Vodafone has announced plans to create 2,100 jobs across the UK in an effort to increase the quality of service.
The phone giant said that it would be expanding customer service centres with around 800 new jobs in Manchester, almost 150 in Newark, more than 150 in Stoke-on-Trent and about 100 in Glasgow. Third party customer service providers would also gain 600 new jobs in Newcastle, 200 in Scotland, and 100 in Cardiff.
The move comes as part of the company’s £2 billion three year investment plan for 2016-19, which is aimed at increasing the customer service for 18 million UK customers.
Nick Jeffery, Vodafone UK Chief Executive, said: “These new, skilled roles will make a real difference to our customers and a real difference to the communities that are the focus of our customer services investment. Our ambition is to give our customers the best experience possible, providing an outstanding level of service and support as we continue to invest in building the biggest and best network in Britain.”
The scheme marks one of the largest employment expansions within the UK in recent years, and the jobs will be filled out in the coming years. The company hopes the 1,200 of the roles will be filled in the next 24 months.
The move comes just days after Vodafone announced that they would be cutting several hundred jobs at its headquarters in Newbury.
The Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport said: “Vodafone is one of our country’s great international success stories and it’s fantastic this global organisation is demonstrating its confidence in the UK by creating new jobs across the north, in the midlands, in Scotland and in Wales.”
The announcement coincides with a new report from P3 Connect which found Vodafone 4G now reaches 97% of the UK population and was the highest rated provider for voice and data in November 2016.
In October, Ofcom gave Vodafone a £4.6 million fine for failing to abide by consumer protection rules, the largest fine a telecoms operator has received.
