120 New Jobs Created In New BT Contact Centre

Northern Ireland has been chosen as the location for a state-of-the-art contact centre, creating around 120 new jobs.

Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster and Employment and Learning Minister, Dr Stephen Farry today announced the major investment by BT which is being supported by Invest Northern Ireland through funding of £568,000 under its Jobs Fund. The Department for Employment and Learning has offered over £108,000 of training support under its Assured Skills programme.

Located in Belfast's Riverside Tower, the centre will provide flexible support to different parts of BT Group where there is a short-term need for additional resource. As such it will require multi-skilled advisors and managers. It will also have the latest contact centre technology to help employees deal with the diverse situations they will handle.

Announcing the investment Enterprise Minister, Arlene Foster said: "This is another boost for the Business Services sector in Northern Ireland, which is a key driver of economic growth. The jobs being created by this project will contribute £2.9million a year in salaries to the economy.

"BT considered other locations for this project and it is due to the positive experience that the company has had here in terms of the calibre of staff, and the support offered by Invest NI and DEL, that it decided to further invest here."

BT has a long history of investing in Northern Ireland. Other major investments by the Group include two centres of excellence for digital customer care and a Global Development Centre. It already employs over 2,500 people here, which results in £83million in wages and salary spend. BT’s fibre broadband rollout in Northern Ireland is one of the most rapid in the world.

(CD/GK)