60 jobs under threat at Thus

Thus - the Scottish telco behind the Demon internet brand - could be about to axe 60 jobs at its Southend office and export the work to India.

Staff were told of the proposals late yesterday afternoon as the telco - which recently made a failed bid to acquire rival Energis - continues to introduce measures to drive down costs.

The company said it was "refocusing its customer support" by offshoring tech support for its entry level broadband products overseas.

Confirming the job cut proposals the company told us in a statement: "As part of our continued business efficiency review, we are proposing to focus our Customer Service Centre at Southend on supporting higher value services and business customers while moving support for Demon Home/Demon Home Office and our commodity level Business broadband portfolio offshore.

"This will enable more efficient management of our customer services in future, with an increased focus on supporting higher value services whilst also reducing levels of operating expenditure.

"By making these changes, we will improve our ability to support our customers as they migrate to next generation services.

"We are consulting with employees on this proposal," it said.

These are difficult times for workers at Thus as the telco continues to be squeezed by what it describes as difficult trading conditions.

Three weeks ago The Register reported how 20 IT workers at the Scottish telco were told their jobs are to be transferred to IT services outfit Computacenter. ®