Eircom has said that no jobs will be lost as a result of its decision not to offer new contracts to run its customer contact centres to two of the incumbent operators, Capita and Rigney Dolphin.
But the company has confirmed that, depending on where new providers of the services choose to base themselves, some existing staff may have to relocate in order to keep their jobs, although all the jobs will remain in Ireland.
The three incumbent contract holders currently employ 820 people servicing the Eircom contracts.
Eircom is currently in the process of selecting new companies to provide a range of customer support services, including fixed line, broadband, mobile and outbound sales customer support.
Eight applicants were whittled down to five, and then to three last Friday. Two of the last three will be given contracts by the end of the summer. The final three are Stream, which currently holds some contracts with the company, as well as Firstsource and HCL. All three are international companies with an Irish presence.
Eircom says it has decided that, regardless of which two operators win the contracts, the jobs must remain in Ireland. Currently the incumbent contract holders have call centres in a range of locations, including Dublin, Cork and Waterford.
It is not yet clear whether the companies that take over the contracts will continue in those locations or relocate, forcing staff who wish to keep their jobs to move too. But it is understood that there are strong transfer provisions built into the contracts, and staff working for the current contract holders will be entitled to move to the new contract winners.
Capita said it would begin talks with Eircom and the new provider - once its identity is known - about staff transfers.
It said it was currently starting to consulting staff and their representatives about possible transfers and redeployment.
