As well as a physical presence in places such as shopping centres, the committee suggests that there could be one-stop shops in the form of Internet sites and telephone call centres.

BBC: News | Education | Shopping for governors in the supermarket

It soon seemed show itself as the right employer in the right place when the mobile telephone company 1st Line announced the closure of its call centres along the coast in Swansea and Cardiff with the loss of 2, 000 jobs.

BBC: Plug pulled on Cyber Bay?

The telephone-equipment companies want voice dialling (useful in cars), automatic call-centres, computerised operator-services and messaging that allows users to pick up and send e-mails and faxes on an ordinary telephone anywhere in the world.

ECONOMIST: Can machines talk? From next month they will