Mobile phone giant EE is recruiting 60 new jobs at its call centre in Merthyr Tydfil.
The UK’s biggest mobile operator, owned by BT, already employs more than 800 staff at its Rhyd-y-Car Business Park site with the majority of the staff travelling in from the surrounding local area.
EE created 1,000 new jobs across its sites in 2016 alone. The move comes as the firm looks to base all customer service calls in the UK and Ireland.
As well as Merthyr, the customer service advisors will fill positions in North Tyneside, Darlington, Greenock, Plymouth and Oxford.
The decision to bring its customer service calls back to the UK has been heralded as a success by the company, which claims that complaints are now well below the industry average.
More than a hundred of the roles offered will be part of EE’s apprenticeship scheme, offering people the chance to learn new skills and gain nationally recognised qualifications while building a longterm career at the company. The programme, launched in 2012, has already recruited 1,300 apprentices through the system.
Economy Secretary Ken Skate said: “I am delighted that EE will be recruiting an additional 60 new advisers to its contact centre in Merthyr. This is excellent news for the local economy, particularly given EE’s commitment to training and developing its staff and supporting them to progress and build long term careers.”
Chief executive of EE, Marc Allera, said: “Keeping connected continues to play an increasing role in peoples’ lives, and we’re working hard to invest in our staff and our network to keep Britain connected and ensure we create the best experience possible for new and existing customers.
“We’re also proud to be continuing to support the UK jobs market and providing the platform for our staff and incoming apprentices to gain skills and build long and successful careers with us.”
EE is also looking to make significant investments in Wales’ 4G network, taking coverage from 40% of its landmass January 2017 to 90%coverage by December 2017.
