This story has made it to the Register:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06...tsourcing_ibm/
I dunno myself if this is going to make any difference to customer service. I suspect not. Service standards may be laid down in the new IBM contract, but bottom line is that IBM will be wanting to see a profit, so they are gonna want to do it as cheap as possible.
Although existing staff should have the same terms of employment under TUPE, I can see changes coming. New staff will porbably have lesser terms, and at some stage in the future the few remaining old ntl staff will be asked to move to new contract terms that match the later contracts issued to new joiners. There may be a little financial compensation, but what about things like pension plans, discounted ntl services and other benefits that ntl staff might currently enjoy.
However of biggest concern is that if new staff are on lesser salaries, so IBM can make a profit, the calibre of staff being hired may well also drop. That means worse rather than better standards.