Call Center Report November 11-23, 2005

• UK-based bank HSBC will open a call center in Malta. The Mediterranean nation beat out cheaper India for a 300-person center. The center will handle "high-value" English-language calls.
  
  The Malta Independent, 23 Nov. 2005

• Rollins, Inc., the Atlanta-based parent company of Orkin, will move its call center from Atlanta to a larger facility in Newton County, Georgia. It will also hire about 50 new employees.
  
  Atlanta Business Chronicle, 23 Nov. 2005

• Glasgow, Scotland-based outsourcer Contact4 will open a 50 employee call center in Achill, in the west of Ireland. Contact4 has centers in Gweedore and Daingean.
  
  Mayo News, 23 Nov. 2005

• Travelodge will close its 170 person hotel bookings call center in Dudley, West Midlands, UK. Bookings will soon be outsourced.
  
  BBC News, 22 Nov. 2005

• Illinois-based outsourcer Afni is opening a third Tuscon, Arizona call center, which is expected to employ 500 people.
  
  Arizona Daily Star, 22 Nov. 2005

• Last week we reported Missoula, Montana was competing with an unnamed city for a DirecTV call center. Missoula won, beating out College Station, Texas. The deal for the 800-employee center will be signed the week of November 21.
  
  Helena Independent Record, 19 Nov. 2005

• A 370-person call center in El Paso, Texas run by Seattle's Washington Mutual will be closed in March. Providian, which was bought by Washington Mutual in October, previously ran this call center. The center did collections for delinquent accounts, of which there are fewer now, the bank said.
  
  El Paso Times, 17 Nov. 2005

• UK-based Cheltenham & Gloucester is closing its mortgage application call centre near Warwick (England). 400 people will lose their jobs, and the facility will be replaced by one in Mumbai, India. 950 jobs were cut last year when C&G's parent bank, Lloyd's TSB, closed a Newcastle call center.
  
  Guardian Unlimited, 17 Nov. 2005

• Canada's Aliant Inc., a telecom company, will outsource 129 jobs to ICT, a Newtown, Pennsylvania call center operator with centers in Canada.
  
  CanadaEast.com, 16 Nov. 2005

• Disney Shopping Inc. will close a 250-person Overland Park, Kansas call center. Some of the jobs will go to a Utah call center.
  
  Kansas City Business Journal, 11 Nov. 2005

  Posted by Harry Sheff on Wednesday, November 23, 2005 at 12:23 PM