Telecoms giant BT is cutting 2,200 jobs under a major reorganisation of its call centre operations, it announced today.

Its centres in Brighton and Hastings will be among those affected.

The company is spending £100 million on creating 30 "next generation multi-function customer contact centres".

But BT said the move meant the closure of 53 call centres over the next two years.

Around 68 per cent of staff affected by the closures are to be relocated but BT said 2,200 full-time posts would be lost.

The cuts will not involve any compulsory redundancies thanks to an agreement with union bosses.

The telecoms group said last month it was reviewing the future of its call centre operations, which run directory inquiries and accounting services.

Patricia Vaz, BT Retail's managing director of customer service, said almost everyone in the call centre operation would be affected by today's plans.

BT said the new multi-function sites would provide customers with "a greater choice of how to interact with BT".

Union bosses said they were not convinced that BT could offer reasonable alternative job opportunities in the sites it has chosen to close.

Jeannie Drake, deputy general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, said she wanted guarantees that comparable jobs would be made available.

Ms Drake said: "We believe the company has obligations to its people which it cannot ignore. This is a huge company with social obligations."

The cuts will affect staff in all BT's regions apart from Northern Ireland.

Seven centres in London will shut, causing 300 job cuts, and in the South East the closures will affect Brighton, Hastings, Aldershot, Dover, Maidstone, Margate, Reading and Southampton.