Nortel picks up $5m BT call centre contract

Nortel has won a $5m contract from BT to help the telco use Internet Protocol (IP) technology to upgrade its call centres around the UK.

The deal will cover 10,000 agents and 124 sites, though the nature of the technology will mean agents can be based away from call centres and using data applications as well as voice.

BT said in a statement that by its staff using applications on a converged IP network it will be showing its customers that it practises what it preaches.

Nortel and BT are partners, with the latter being a key channel to enterprise customers for the Canadian company, but BT also works with other major equipment makers such as Avaya and Cisco.

Nortel Enterprise Networks EMEA president Peter Kelly called the contract "a huge vote of confidence in our voice-over-IP and contact centre technology".

BT is in the middle of a Customer Promise initiative, trying to answer queries without passing around callers from one agent to another, a criticism that has been levelled in the past.

The new deal sees the replacement of existing Nortel kit, Meridian-branded PBX and call routing technology, and the rollout of Nortel Communication Server 1000 at five sites, along with IP handsets and call centre specific software.