TELECOM Corp., New Zealand?s largest telephone company, will move an additional 250 call-center jobs to the Philippines over the next 18 months to reduce costs.

Manila would house 700 call center jobs for Telecom, while 1,600 positions would remain in New Zealand after the restructure, the Auckland-based company said in an e-mailed statement.

Telecom is cutting costs to arrest a slide in profits amid increased competition and the expense of meeting a government directive to separate into three units.

A year of trials meant Telecom would retain about 550 residential call center positions in New Zealand even as it shifts positions to the Philippines.

The trial showed that offshore staff delivered strong results in areas where specific technical knowledge was important. About 155 jobs supporting the high-speed Internet service will be moved.

The company would offer redeployment to reduce the number of workers it needed to dismiss, it said. The final decision on relocation would be made after talks with workers, Telecom said. Bloomberg