Orange, one of Britain's largest mobile phone operators, plans to outsource about 700 jobs to India by the end of the year, its spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
The jobs are expected to be outsourced following successful call centre trials held in New Delhi through outsource companies Vertex and Convergys.
The group, which employs 5,000 staff in Darlington, Peterlee, County Durham and North Tyne-side, said it was looking at expanding the number of calls handled offshore by its third-party partners.
Allaying fears that off-shoring calls to India would lead to redundancies in Britain, Orange, in a statement said its British communication centres would still handle a majority of calls and it would continue to have a significant presence in the northeast and southwest.
Mike Hughes, customer service director at Orange, said: "Our main objective is to provide the best service for our customers. Whether it is a call centre in the Britain or in India, our main concern is that customers get the levels of service they need and expect from Orange.
"We are confident that our partners overseas meet our rigorous standards and work alongside our existing British operations. Most importantly, customers have told us they are happy with the service provided both in the UK and off-shore."
According to the spokeswoman, Orange is recruiting a team of 20 to 30 volunteers, chosen from its British sites, to travel to India to help train staff in the call centres.
She said the offshoring of calls would not lead to reduced staffing levels in Britain and that the company had recruited more than 900 workers in this country between May and July.
