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T-Mobile expects to hire 180 employees at its Wichita call center on North Woodlawn this year as part of a nationwide consolidation of its call centers.
The company closed seven call centers, including one in Lenexa, as of late June, and it’s expanding employment at 17 others, including Wichita.
Since April, the company has hired 78 additional representatives in Wichita and expects to hire 180 more by the end of the year, said a company spokesman.
The move is part of T-Mobile’s Challenger strategy, announced in February, which includes a $4 billion modernization of its network and launch of 4G LTE technology in 2013, plans to revitalize the T-Mobile brand, and 1,000 new business sales positions.
T-Mobile is the nation’s fourth-largest mobile network and has suffered in the face of intense competition from Verizon, AT&T and Sprint.
Wichita call center director Zafar Akbar said there are about 353 employees at the call center, he said. That’s about half what it was in 2009, but he said the company hasn’t had to lay anybody off at the call center in at least the past decade.
“We are regularly evaluating our staffing needs and our call volumes on a weekly basis, so we know when and where we need to hire,” he said.
The reps at the center assist T-Mobile customers all over the country with technical and billing questions from 6 a.m. to midnight.
Akbar said that the center has no trouble attracting good job applicants.
“Wichita has historically has been a great area for candidates for customer care,” he said.
