BT'S directory enquiries call centre in Aberystwyth will close its doors for good in six months, with the loss of around 70 jobs, the Cambrian News has discovered. The company has announced that the call centre will finally close at the end of October, after living under the shadow of the axe for the past three years. It told staff about the closure last week. There was a public outcry in 2002 when BT announced that it was closing the centre with the loss of 150 jobs both within the company and amongst agency staff – so that the work could be transferred to India. Since then the number of staff at the Aberystwyth call centre has been reduced as the centre was scaled down, but it is thought there are still around 70 BT and Manpower employment agency staff working there. The majority of the workforce is now from Manpower. A spokesman for BT said that a date for the complete closure of the centre had been decided. He said: "The Aberystwyth call centre is due to close at the end of October 2005. It is in the closure phase now, but will finally close completely in October this year. We announced the closure in 2002." Staff have been given notice. A spokesman for Manpower said the company would do everything it could to help its staff find alternative work. That includes JobCentre staff visiting the call centre to work with staff. He said: "We will be providing our staff with every assistance to find alternative work at this difficult time. Managers will be meeting all employees on an individual basis over the coming weeks to discuss employment options and to provide help and advice. "We have also arranged for representatives from the local JobCentre to visit the site next week. All staff will be provided with access to our online Direct Training service providing free access to over 1,100 courses to update or develop new skills." The Aberystwyth call centre won an internal company award just last year for its service. A spokesman said that although the centre had performed well in setting the 118 500 Welsh language service up, it would have no bearing on the decision to close. Fears about how Welsh language calls to the directory enquiry service would be dealt with have been answered by BT, who say call centres in Cardiff, Colwyn Bay and Newport will deal with all Welsh language enquiries.