British Telecom has abandoned plans to create 400 jobs at a call centre in Derry, writes Paul Tanney. The Queen's Quay call centre project had been expected to create 650 jobs but the company announced yesterday that it was halting any further expansion of its workforce.

It added that it had already completed phases one and two of the project, employing 250 people, but the third phase would now not go ahead. A spokesman for BT said the decision had been taken because of difficulties experienced by telecoms and IT companies around the world. Plans for the centre were published in 1999 but in a statement, the company's chief executive, Mr Hanif Lalani, said global conditions had changed dramatically over the past 18 months. He added that telecoms, software and information technology were facing a global slowdown and no company had remained immune to its effects.