THE region's booming call centre industry was welcoming the latest addition to its fold with a new operation set to create 1000 new jobs.

Blurb Direct Ltd, a specialist in providing third party call centres, is utilising a new centralised exchange system, implemented by cable giants Telewest Telecommunications in Newcastle.

Telewest, which has a base on the Team Valley, will provide the lines of communication for Blurb, which is already well established in Leeds and is now the fastest growing call centre in the UK.

The new centre will be driven by a Telewest centralised exchange system (Centrex) providing 1,000 outgoing lines, with the increased capacity opening up more and more employment opportunities by the day.

Instead of using the traditional switchboard, with call queuing facility, the centre gives Blurb Direct the opportunity to handle calls simultaneously, 24 hour a day.

Chris Wise, Telewest's business sales executive, said: "What we are providing is our centralised exchange for Blurb to use.

"The Centrex solution has been installed instead of a traditional switchboard, meaning a faster more efficient service and the flexibilty to increase the number of lines by up to 200 a day."

The latest announcement will bolster the rapidly growing army of 18,000 employed in North-East call centres.

Speaking recently Dr John Bridge, chairman of regional development agency One North-East, said 5,000 of the jobs had been created in the past year by firms such as Orange, Churchill Insurance, Littlewoods and One2One.

The region is at the forefront of one of Britain's fastest-growing industries, with a survey released earlier this month estimating full-time call centre jobs will be around the 665,000 mark by the year 2008, compared with 423,000 now.

The report from London-based Business Strategies showed part-time workers making up a large proportion of call centre staff.

The expansion in the sector is likely to be spearheaded by financial services, and in May Lloyds TSB announced plans for 1,000 jobs at new centres in Newcastle and Sunderland.

Business strategists believe the boom in call centres will continue over the next two to three years, with more moderate growth expected in the medium term.

l The Northern Rock confirmed that up to 2,000 jobs are set to be created with the expansion its Tyneside headquarters, as reported in The Northern Echo yesterday.

The firm hopes to get planning permission for two high-tech offices, costing £30m, behind their present base in Gosforth, Newcastle