On Saturday, British telecoms operator Virgin Media O2 which is jointly held by Liberty Global and Spain’s Telefonica, will cut thousands of jobs in a radical overhaul, according to Sky News.
The report further showed that up to 4,000 of O2’s 16,000 employees could be impacted although the exact number of layoffs has yet to be determined. However, the majority of the layoffs are projected to impact back-office positions while several executive leadership transitions are already in progress.
The majority of the affected staff will be those in non-customer-facing roles while a wave of senior management shifts is already unfolding at the organization headed by chief executive Lutz Schuler.
The anticipated corporate shake-up at VMO2 comes at a time when Britain’s telecoms market is being prompted by antitrust scrutiny and the recent market correction of TalkTalk Telecom Group.
Earlier this week, the Financial Times reported this week that VMO2 was close to an agreement to use Openreach’s network in parts of the country to scale up its operations from 19 million to as many as the 25 million homes covered by Openreach.
Further reports in July showed that VMO2’s owners were evaluating strategies to deleverage the company’s balance sheet. It is crucial to note that in the earlier reports, Virgin Media O2’s shareholders were seeking to trim expenditures by approximately £600 million.
