Directory inquiries firm Conduit will create up to 200 jobs in Dublin over the next few months to handle international directory calls made by British customers.
The Dublin-based firm, which was taken private by its management team in January, said yesterday it had invested almost £19 million sterling (€27.5 million) so far to prepare for the opening of the British directory inquiries market tomorrow.
A portion of this cash is being spent on hiring new customer care staff at Conduit's British and Irish call centres, which now employ more than 2,100 staff.
In an interview with The Irish Times, Conduit's chief executive, Mr Liam Young, said it expected to claim a third of the British directory inquiry market from this Sunday, the day when the old 192 directory inquiry phone number will stop working.
"We already have 10 per cent of the UK market using our own number," said Mr Young. "We expect to get 30 per cent of the British market from Sunday."
The UK's directory inquiries market is worth £300 million annually, creating huge revenue potential for Conduit if successful in its British strategy.
Conduit expects to benefit from its existing directory assistance contracts with firms such as Telewest, Orange and Vodafone. Last week it signed a new deal with Virgin Mobile to provide directory assistance to its users.
From this Sunday the old 192 directory inquiries service provided by British Telecom will be replaced by at least 14 different numbers as the market is opened to full competition. Conduit has been allocated the number 118888 and is spending millions promoting the service in the media.
"We've been investing in advertising since March 2003 and have already built up significant call volumes in Britain," said Mr Young. "We plan to spend about £40 million on the service over a three-year period."
Competition in the British directory inquiries market is expected to be very tough with at least 14 firms offering services from tomorrow. The large number of firms, which each offer different numbers, has also caused confusion among users.
Newspaper surveys reveal that few consumers know the 192 number is about to be shut down, or could name the replacement numbers. "There are likely to be only three numbers in the market that people will use... There is only room for three firms in the market," said Mr Young.
Conduit's high-quality service, no-nonsense approach and low prices will enable the company to be one of the winners from deregulation, according to Mr Young, who founded Conduit in 1996.
But most observers believe US firm Infonxx has won the advertising battle by heavily promoting its 118118 number with two ageing runners. The firm has had to route calls to call centres in the Philippines to cope with the strong demand already.
Mr Young said Conduit had examined the option of locating call centres abroad in low-cost states such as India. But local knowledge was very important to directory services and the company had decided not to move jobs offshore, he added.
But staff at Conduit's Dublin call centres already handle some British call traffic and this is set to increase with the expansion in Britain in the coming months.
Mr Young said the firm would probably increase staff numbers by about 200 in Dublin over the next few months to handle international directory services requested by British customers.
He also disclosed that Conduit's recently launched directory inquiries service in Spain was already handling more calls than Conduit's comparable 11850 service in the Republic. The Spanish market was going very well, he said.
Conduit's management, which includes chairman Mr Eddie Kerr and three non-executive directors, took Conduit private earlier this year in a €55.4 million management buyout.
