The confirmation that British Telecom will open a new call centre at its premises in Derry, creating more than 600 jobs, has been welcomed by the city's Mayor, Cllr Cathal Crumley, and SDLP leader Mr John Hume.

Around 150 of the 650 jobs should be in train by September.

Call centres created more than 35,000 jobs in Britain and Ireland last year, according to research carried out by consultants Deloitte & Touche. A total of 88 centres were opened in 1999, up from 58 the previous year, a trend expected to continue. The Republic was the most popular location for call centres in 1999. It secured 18 per cent of all new centres, followed by Scotland with 15 per cent. In Northern Ireland, call centre employment is set to double to more than 6,000 in the next few years, and further growth is predicted.

The Halifax development at the former Belfast gasworks will be Northern Ireland's largest call centre when it opens next January, employing 1,500 and fielding a range of customer inquiries. Among the biggest existing employers are Abbey National which employs around 600 people. The BBC's viewer and listener information centre has 120 staff. Around 70 people are employed in Belfast by the National Bank of Australia, parent company of the Northern Bank, providing debt factoring services. The telephone and cable company, NTL, employs 400 staff in Belfast and Derry and has plans to recruit a further 900 providing customer support and administrative back-up.

Prudential Assurance has around 300 people providing customer services at a call centre in Belfast and has plans to add a further 400 to the payroll. Stream International employs 300 in Derry and plans to recruit a further 200.

But doubts have been expressed about the long-term viability of call centre jobs, as well as about working conditions. Last month it was announced that 200 jobs were under threat from BT's decision to close a Belfast centre which handles mobile telephone inquiries from across the UK, and reopen it in Sheffield. BT said it was "rebalancing" its business and that no BT staff would lose their jobs through the closure. But it was pointed out that only 40 of the 215 staff employed at the call centre were employed by BT, and the rest were agency staff. Union officials said they had been misled.

But the growth of call centres in Northern Ireland continues to provide job opportunities. The availability, quality and education of the workforce are encouraging companies to consider the North as a base.