Comcast to add 400 jobs in region

Comcast Corp. is expected to disclose today that it will add more than 400 jobs in New England, ramping up its presence in the region by 10 percent from last year.

The new jobs will include 180 technicians and support staff who will work in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut along with more than 100 other mostly managerial positions in areas like finance and engineering. The company will also expand its Malden call center with 130 customer care representatives, continuing a trend of ``in-sourcing" despite cheaper labor costs outside the region. The reverse of outsourcing, in-sourcing is when a company shifts jobs to local areas instead of hiring overseas at lower wages.

``Anytime you bring your frontline closer to the customer, it really gives you a competitive advantage," said Robin Higgle, Comcast's d irector of talent management.

The Philadelphia-based company runs six call centers in the area, including four in Massachusetts, and nearly all calls from the New England area are handled by local representatives. Higgle said it is ideal ``to have a rep on the phone who is very likely to come from the same neighborhood."

Comcast, which has been opening new positions throughout the region this year, expects to add the jobs within the next three months, growing its employee base in the area to 6,000 people. The hires come on top of the more than 700 employees Comcast will gain from its acquisition of beleaguered Adelphia Communications Corp., which is still awaiting approval by the Federal Communications Commission and other regulatory agencies.

Comcast said the extra jobs are meant to keep up with demand for its ``triple-play" package of cable, Internet, and phone services launched last year. Comcast entered the New England market in February 2003, when it acquired AT&T Broadband, and now controls 76 percent of the market ahead of its closest competitor, Charter Communications, at 11 percent, according to the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy.

Comcast is expected to face greater competition as telecom giant Verizon Communications Inc. tries to crack its dominance with FiOS, a high-speed Internet service that will deliver broadband video. Verizon has access to 10 communities so far with its FiOS service, according to the telecommunications department.

Kim-Mai Cutler can be reached at kcutler@globe.com.