3 is to slash numbers at its Glasgow call centre from the current 540 to fewer than 400, the telco announced yesterday.

Some calls will be handled at the company's Mumbai office.

3 said the call centre was set up when the company had no retail presence and was building up a customer base. Now, with four million customers, it is moving jobs into retail where it can speak directly to punters. The fact that call centres in India are so much cheaper to run is just a happy coincidence.

3 claims to be creating 190 more retail jobs around the UK in 2007, with multiple stores in Glasgow, and expects 40 or so staff to relocate within the company - though it admits there will be around 120 redundancies.

It is currently consulting with employees, a legal requirement when laying off more than 20 people at once, so staff at the centre are still waiting to hear who will stay and who will go. ®