The ATA said yesterday the Do Not Call Register will lead to a weakened contact center industry and may cause job losses after legislation was passed last week.

It attributes this to an expected million registry listings in the program's first week, which it says is caused by the industry's image as intrusive telemarketing campaigners.

However, a study conducted by industry analyst callcentres.net says the industry's image, which the ATA claims makes employee recruitment difficult, is unjustified. The research, dubbed the 2006 Australian contact center industry benchmark study, reveals that from 516 call centers only 12 percent had outbound telemarketing as their primary activity.

Of these telemarketers, 15 percent are initiated offshore by foreign companies, which make an estimated 2.8 billion calls annually.

Nationally, the registry will affect an industry worth A$10 billion and employing about 250,000 staff across 3700 contact centers, according to the study.