A Belfast e-mail company has signed a multi-million dollar contract to provide on-line services to the internet giant, Amazon.com. The deal is likely to see the American group take an equity stake in the firm.

Amazon supplies books, CDs, videos and other consumer items worldwide over the internet.

GEM, the global e-mail company, beat 30 international firms, to win the three-year contract to support Amazon's existing customer service network.

The terms of the contract have not been made public but it is understood that because of the Amazon deal and other new business currently in the pipeline, GEM may recruit up to 300 employees for its contact centre in Belfast.

The company, which was set up in 1999 by former senior management of NTL in Northern Ireland, said any move by Amazon to take an equity stake would be subject to shareholder approval.

Mr Diego Piacentini, senior vice president of Amazon.com, said it had chosen the Northern Ireland company because of its strong multi-lingual capabilities.

The Belfast firm employs a high percentage of graduates with multi-lingual skills.

It also employs native speakers of French, Italian, German, Spanish, Swedish and Dutch among its workforce.

"With five international websites and customers in more than 200 countries, Amazon.com must maintain a year-round, 24hour, seven-days-a-week customer service network," Mr Piacentini said.

According to Mr Owen Lamont, chairman of GEM, the contract win is an important endorsement of the skills available in Northern Ireland.

"It sends the message that we can go out and compete with the rest of the world and win and as a result large companies are endorsing Northern Ireland.

"It also says at this time when there is a lot of uncertainty in the telecoms and technology sectors that companies like ourselves can succeed if they can prove they offer a service that makes a difference," Mr Lamont added.