Optus to establish Indian call centre

Telco Optus this week confirmed plans to establish call centre operations in India.

The move -- intended to supplement its domestic operations -- would not result in any job losses for the company's permanent staff, Optus chief executive Paul O'Sullivan said in a statement.

“Outsourcing some services will ensure Optus remains competitive in its offer to customers and at the same time, can accommodate the expected growth within our call centre operations in Australia,” he said.

Optus currently receives about 30 million customer contacts a year and that was expected to grow, he said.

The company had shortlisted potential partners to operate its Indian call centre and would make a further announcement once contractual negotiations were complete, he said.

The telco would outsource mobile and consumer and multimedia product transactions and selected consumer customer enquires.

The Indian centre would have 150 seats and would grow over time.

Optus employed nearly 3500 permanent customer service call centre staff in Australia. The centre would be operational by mid to late 2005, the company said.