Bad day for DA as legacy information services take a hit

NEWS broke yesterday that Directory Assistance jobs were going to go in both the UK and Italy.

BT, the UK’s former incumbent telecoms monopoly is set to close its directory enquiries call centre in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. The call centre will close early next year. BT says it will try to find alternative roles for the 52 staff and will even re-train them if necessary.

BT said that directory enquiries industry has been in decline for ten years, as since liberalisation numbers such as 118 118 have grabbed market share and more contextual and relevant services have emerged such as internet search, mobile internet and mobile marketing.

Meanwhile Telecom Italia announced yesterday that it has reached an agreement with the trade unions over plans that will lead to 3,900 voluntary redundancies – including 470 directory enquiries staff.

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