EE to create 250 jobs in Northern Ireland

Mobile phone company EE is to create 250 jobs in Northern Ireland as part of a plan to bring over 1,000 posts to the UK from abroad over the next two years.

EE said it intends to scale back its call centres in South Africa and the Philippines.

The company, which is the largest mobile phone company in the UK, said it would also triple the size of its apprenticeship scheme to 1,300 over the same period.

"Within 18 months, I want to be able to say that EE has done for customer service in the UK what it has done for networks. A major step towards this is returning 1,000 customer service jobs to the UK, where performance has been shown to exceed that of overseas contact centres," said EE chief executive Olaf Swantee

“At the same time, our plans to triple our apprenticeship programme will play a significant role in tackling youth unemployment in many areas, and bring a large number of digitally skilled employees into the business. The announcement is great news for our customers and a welcome boost to the UK,” he added.

The announcement was welcomed by prime minister David Cameron and by the Communication Workers Union (CWU).

Additional reporting: PA