Call centers ramping up for VZW new products?

Two customer call centers are ramping up staff, once again fueling speculation that Verizon Wireless will begin selling Apple Inc.’s iPhone soon. However, Verizon Wireless could also be ramping up customer service as it prepares to launch six LTE devices and service in 38 markets by the end of the year.
VZW spokeswoman Brenda Raney said the staffing measures are business as usual.
Ryla Inc. and Teleperformance, two outsourced customer service firm, are both hiring in the United States. On its website, Ryla lists 1,700 available positions at its call centers in Lafayette, Ind., Colorado Springs, Co., Norfolk, Va., and Clovis, Calif., as well as positions available in Georgia and Alabama. The Fresno Bee reported that the firm is hiring at least 500 people to work with a Fortune 50 cellular company. Only AT&T Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc. are ranked in Fortune’s top 50.
For its part, Teleperformance is hiring positions that include technical support for smart phones, PDAs, and wireless computers, along with MP3 and laptop support, as well as general customer service representatives.
Meanwile, Verizon continued to cut on its wireline business. “Our workforce reduction initiative is proceeding as planned,” said Verizon CFO John Killan in the company’s third=-quarter conference call. “Wireline headcount was down 5,900 this quarter and has declined by about 10,500 over the past two quarters. As you know, a majority of these reductions relate to our voluntary separational effort in the East and Mid-Atlantic regions. With about another 1,000 volunteers in other regions, we expect another 2,000 to 3,000 employees will leave our payroll by the end of the year.
“In terms of workforce reductions in the third quarter, we estimate the savings to be about $80 million. Partially offsetting these cost savings this quarter were acquisition costs related to higher FiOS customer volumes and some typical seasonal increases, including higher energy cost.”