Following Vodaphone’s (LON:VOD) plans to cut hundreds of jobs from its Newbury HQ, the mobile operate has said it will create up to 2,100 new customer service jobs across the UK.
Jobs will be created in Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent, Newark, Glasgow, Newcastle as well as across Scotland and Wales as part of a 2 billion-pound investment phase running until 2019 to improve customer offering for its British customers.
Most of these roles are based in South Africa with an external agency but Vodaphone has plans to move jobs back to the UK after huge wage inflation in these countries as well as the customer frustration when being routed overseas.
Its UK chief executive, Nick Jeffery, said: “These new, skilled roles will make a real difference to our customers and a real difference to the communities that are the focus of our customer services investment.
“Our ambition is to give our customers the best experience possible, providing an outstanding level of service and support as we continue to invest in building the biggest and best network in Britain.”
At present, the mobile operator hires 12,500 people in the UK. The company did warn after the EU referendum that it would consider potentially shifting its HQ outside the UK.
Karen Bradley, the culture secretary, said: “Vodafone is one of our country’s great international success stories and it’s fantastic this global organisation is demonstrating its confidence in the UK by creating new jobs across the north, in the midlands, in Scotland and in Wales.
“We are working hard to create the right conditions for commercial investment in the UK, and today’s announcement is proof that Britain is well and truly open for business.”
Last October, regulator Ofcom fined Vodafone £4.6m for “serious” breaches of consumer protection rules. This was the largest fine given to a telecoms operator.
Ofcom said that Vodafone had misled pay-as-you-go customers, charging them for top-up credit but “providing nothing in return.”