NTL was today desperately fighting fierce criticism from unions over plans to cut 6,000 jobs, more than a third of its workforce, as the fate of at least British 1,500 employees hung in the balance.

The internet, TV and mobiles group has confirmed that least 3,000 positions will be culled over the next 12 months in the wake of the group’s £3.4 billion merger with cable peer Telewest.

A further 1,500 workers based in Swansea and Liverpool will be re-employed by IBM under an outsourcing deal that is likely to see them remain in their current offices.

But there is growing confusion over what will happen to the remaining 1,500 British employees who have been earmarked to go under the plans. It has been speculated that the jobs could go abroad to low-cost locations such as India and South Africa.

NTL insisted that it is "actively engaged in negotiations" aimed at ensuring that these jobs remain in the UK under a deal similar to that agreed with IBM. Possible partners being considered under such an arrangement are thought to include Manpower and Adecco.

However, NTL said it could not guarantee that the jobs would not be moved offshore. "Nothing is guaranteed in this world," a spokeswoman said.

She added that the company, which has operations in England, Scotland and Wales, was unable to comment on which regions would be affected. NTL already has deals in place with Fujitsu and IBM whcih cover customer care through staff in India and South Africa.

Unions reacted angrily to the lack of clarity over the fate of the workers. Gerry Morrissey, assistant general secretary of Bectu, said his union will now press for a campaign to highlight the number of jobs being outsourced to India.

"Firms which are doing this don’t deserve the support of the British public," he said.

The National Outsourcing Association (NOA), the industry body, said it thought some call centre jobs will go to South Africa or India.

Martyn Hart, the chairman of the NOA, said: "The fact that the unions are already up in arms about NTL's decision suggests that the telecoms giant may already have had problems liaising and negotiating with union officials."

NTL completed the takeover of Telewest in March. Last month it acquired the Virgin Mobile business for £962 million, making it the first company in the UK to offer so-called "quadruple-play" services, combining internet, TV and fixed and mobile telecoms services.

Chief executive Steve Burch said today the merger with Telewest was "progressing well" and that the company planned to "accelerate" the process. NTL plans to save £250 million through the tie-up.

The job cuts by NTL, which is based in Hook, Hampshire, came as the company reported a 23 per cent increase in first-quarter sales to £611.4 million, "mainly due to the merger with Telewest".

However, operating profits fell from £13 million to £3.9 million despite an extra 25,800 new customers signing up to the company.

Churn, which measures the proportion of customers cancelling their subscriptions, was down from 1.4 per cent in the final three months of 2005 to 1.3 per cent in the three months to March 31.

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