Microsoft Corp, the world's biggest software company, may move some customer-service jobs to India, according to a Bloomberg report from San Francisco.

The company plans to hire 150 workers in Bangalore to field phone calls and e-mail from customers with questions about its products, spokeswoman Stacy Drake told Bloomberg.

"We have communicated the pilot programme to them and said there may be some impact in the next year on the United States sites," Drake said.

The report said companies from the US and the United Kingdom are moving the call centre jobs to countries such as India and the Philippines, where labour is cheaper, to save costs.

Some firms, like BT Group Plc, outsource work to third-party providers, while others like General Electric prefer to manage their own operations, it added.

The Microsoft programme is part of a plan to fire some 800 workers in Las Colinas, said Marcus Courtney, president of the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, a union that has opposed Microsoft employment practices in the past.

Microsoft managers are preparing workers for the move ahead of time, telling them to look for new work, Courtney said.

"Microsoft is not coming clean with the public and employees about how shifting jobs to India is affecting its workforce," he said.

Drake said Microsoft has taken no decisions on how many people ultimately will work in Bangalore or the effect the shift will have on the three US offices, the report added.