ebookers cuts costs with £7.8m BT deal

BT has won a £7.8m deal with online travel agency ebookers to manage its UK and European call centres and wide area network (WAN).

The five-year managed service deal will see BT handle 31 ebookers sites in the UK and mainland Europe.

ebookers said the move will support the travel firm's ambitious growth targets with savings of £1.6m over the lifetime of the contract.

Brent Spicer, director of business development at ebookers, told silicon.com the BT contract is a consolidation of four existing deals and that no further staff positions will be lost as part of the move.

"We've just been through a round of staff cuts and now we're trying to consolidate our operations and drive cost out of the business."

Back in May ebookers announced job cuts in India and Europe, despite reporting a 47 per cent increase in sales for the first quarter of 2004. The company was one of the first big names to embark upon a strategy of offshoring to India but has now announced it is cutting 70 jobs in the area as well as more than 200 across Europe.