Orange repatriates its call centres to improve service

Orange, the mobile phone operator, is to bring back all its offshore call centres from India to the UK as part of a drive to improve services for its 15 million customers.

Tom Alexander, the UK chief executive, said last week that it will not be long before all its call centres for customers will be run in Britain.

Orange, which employs 12,000 people in the UK, already has centres in North Tyneside, Darlington and Plymouth, the smallest centre which employs about 1,200. The call centres in India employ about the same number and it is the monthly contract pay services which are being brought back to Britain first.

Mr Alexander said Jackie O'Leary, who joined a few months ago from Carphone Warehouse to head customer services for mobile and broadband, is working flat out to improve Orange's service, particularly for broadband customers, which have consistently been near the bottom of surveys from Which? to uSwitch.

Mr Alexander said: "My aim is for Orange to be renowned for offering the best customer service – not just in mobile but across any industry. To do that we need in-house teams who can react quickly to the market and understand the changing needs of our customers. That's why we are bringing back services from overseas."

Mr Alexander added that Orange is to open 60 new stores, which will create 400 new jobs, as sales are holding up well despite the economic downturn.

Orange has 345 shops in the UK of which 100 are being revamped to bring them up to date.