A mobile phone company is to create 1,000 new jobs in the south Wales Valleys.

The new centre, to be built in Merthyr Tydfil, will be the fifth to be set up by the One 2 One company.

It follows the construction of call centres at Greenock near Glasgow, Dearne Valley near Rotherham and Doxford in Sunderland.

Rhodri Morgan, the new first secretary of the National Assembly for Wales, welcomed the initiative as a vote of confidence in the workforce and the region.

He said it was excellent news for the south Wales Valleys.

Recruitment is due to start in early June and One 2 One said they expect to be providing service to their customers from the new site at Rhyd-y-Car by early September, when the centre will be fully operational.

Over �35m has already been invested by One 2 One in building its network in Wales.

The company said a similar amount would be invested over the next two years to "dramatically improve" both coverage and capacity.

The new jobs are a response to the growth in the mobile phone market in the last year and the expansion of One 2 One's customer base following a hugely successful Christmas trading period.

With financial backing and support from Deutsche Telekom, One 2 One customers can expect over �87m to be spent on customer services infrastructure during this year.

It is the latest in a series of call centres to be set up in Wales.

Britain's first online department store, Cybercall, is set to create 200 jobs in Cardigan in west Wales.

The Manpower company's purpose-built customer service centre at Pembroke Dock in Pembrokeshire, will create 600 hi-tech posts.

The Welsh Development Agency has been targeting financial services companies and call centres in recent years in the hope of persuading more to locate in Wales.

As call centres are not heavily dependent on transport, it has proved possible to locate them in areas of Wales which otherwise might have missed out on inward investment.