Distribution costs (under which head Reservations lie) is an area where airlines like BA are trying to cut costs drastically. A conventional paper ticket costs as much as three times as an Eticket, so the move from BA is understandable.
Incidentally BA has also moved a lot if its back office operations including many of its call centre operations to India. While processes like revenue accounting can be easily shifted out, I wonder how effective the "human touch" functions like reservation call centres can be.
The feedback I have got locally is that BA seems to have neglected the training aspect while shifting operations to India with the result that there are quite a few complaints of less than ideal service. BA was one of the first to start operations here in India for their call centres and while at that time being an early entrant, they were able to get quality staff, now with everyone from Aviva to Cornhill to British Rail , not to speak of Travelocity moving in, it is much difficult to get good people , and more importantly to stay with the company for any length of time. This leads to the question, whether such a move at the end is worth it in the long run.