Hawaii 411 service shifts to Saipan

Directory assistance for Hawaii will be handled by operators in Saipan under a contract announced Monday by Hawaiian Telcom.

Hawaiian Telcom said it has chosen Pacific Telecom, Inc. (PTI) to provide directory assistance services starting this month. None of the operators will be based locally but will work out of offices in Saipan, the capital of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, where the minimum wage is $3.55 an hour.

The switch was necessitated by the phone company's current provider, Metro One Telecommunications of Beaverton, Ore., which announced in March it was getting out of the business.

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Hawaiian Telcom said the switchover from Metro One to PTI would take place over the next 60 days.

PTI, based in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, provides telecommunication service, including directory assistance, to the commonwealth and to neighboring Guam. The commonwealth is about 3,300 miles southwest of Hawaii.

Hawaiian Telcom outsourced its directory assistance business to Metro One in 2007 and eliminated 36 jobs in an effort to save money. Metro One kept a local call center with about 50 jobs, which are now being eliminated.