THE fragile North-East economy was bracing itself for a further devastating blow last night with the news that almost 400 jobs are under threat at cable company ntl.

Business leaders said the renewed threat to the region's economy was "tragic".

The company has announced it is looking to shed 4,000 jobs nationwide from its 17,000 workforce as part of an extensive cost-cutting programme.

More than 500 are employed at its regional headquarters at the Preston Farm Business Park, in Stockton, a quarter of whom are customer service staff and will be exempt from the redundancies. It is believed that the bulk of the cuts will be among the sales and marketing staff as the cable company focuses on looking after existing customers.

But the engineers, human resources and network construction staff are also facing uncertain futures.

Debbie Calgie, a spokeswoman for ntl in the North-East, said: "People will be told this week whether their jobs are at risk, but there will then be a 90-day consultation, on full pay, during which they will work with human resources to try where possible to relocate them. It is quite a long drawn-out process."

The region is already reeling from several redundancy announcements.

They include: All 140 staff at Nepco Europe, in Stokesley, North Yorkshire, after parent company Enron Europe went into administration; 900 jobs nationwide at mobile phone company One2One, some of which will be at Doxford Park in Sunderland; 284 job losses at the Sanyo factory in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham; and 100 jobs at the Durham Dairy bottling plant at Langley Moor, near Durham City.

Peter Penn-Milton, area manager of the North East Chamber of Commerce, said: "The people here are some of the hardest workers I have ever met and it would be nice if some of that commitment was returned.

"It is tragic that yet again the North-East could be at the centre of more job losses."

ntl has three divisions - ntl home, ntl Business and ntl Broadcast.

The home division, which includes broad band Internet, digital television, telephone and mobile services, is the largest arm with sites across the UK including Teesside.

ntl said at the start of the year it wanted to trim its workforce and has already reduced UK numbers from 21,800 to 17,000.

As well as reducing staff, other cost-saving cuts have included a pay freeze for managers and the review and removal of all non-essential consultants and contractors.

The jobs cuts will be through a mixture of voluntary and compulsory redundancies.

Stephen Carter, chief operating officer of ntl, said: "Difficult times mean difficult decisions, and in the UK we are determined to continue to drive down costs and improve customer service.

"That is why associates in customer serving roles will not be made redundant."

The company pioneered its services across Teesside and County Durham, where it has more than 150,000 customers.

Paul Graham, principal lecturer in information systems at Northumbria University, said North-East businesses were still feeling the economic effects of the terrorist attacks in America.

The auction of third generation mobile phone licences, which earned the Government £23bn, had also led to a downturn in the telecommunications industry.

"I think also companies like ntl have expanded at a huge rate and need to go into some consolidation," he said.

"But rather than it being the end of the boom, I think this is a small blip. It's not minor for the people who will lose their jobs, but in the big picture, cable is still the future."