NTL 'to axe 4,000 jobs in UK'
NTL will this week announce that 4,000 jobs in the UK are to be lost following its merger with cable rival Telewest, it was reported today.
Head office roles will be cut and call centre jobs transferred overseas in a shake-up that affects one in every four members of staff, according to the Independent on Sunday.
Details are expected when NTL publishes its first-quarter results on Tuesday, but there will be little impact on Virgin Mobile which is being run as a separate business following its £962m purchase last month.
Today’s report said NTL plans to close the Woking head office of Telewest and some of the staff will be moved to its own base at Hook in Hampshire.
It is also understood that most of the combined group’s call centres will be outsourced, with some of the jobs going to offshore centres in India.
A spokeswoman for NTL declined to respond to today’s report, saying the company did not comment on rumour or speculation.
NTL has radically reshaped itself since emerging from bankruptcy protection in 2003, beginning with a major financial overhaul to generate new capital and reduce interest repayment charges.
It organised a rights issue to raise £824.3m and trimmed its workforce, with 1,500 call centre staff losing their jobs in cuts announced two years ago.
NTL and Telewest employ around 17,000 workers in the UK and the Independent on Sunday said that cuts in marketing operations are also expected on Tuesday in addition to the job losses in call centres and head offices.
The news will be a fresh blow to British industry after mobile phone giant Orange announced plans last week to axe up to 2,000 jobs under a review of its operational costs.
Rival telecoms firm Cable & Wireless warned in February that it may reduce its 5,500-strong UK workforce to between 2,500 and 3,500 over the next four to five years.
It is thought that the full integration of NTL and Telewest will take up to 18 months so some of the losses will not be immediate.
Voluntary redundancies and vacant positions not being filled will make up some of the cuts.
NTL merged with Telewest in March to create the largest provider of residential broadband services in the UK.
It has indicated that savings will total £250m over the next three years.
The tie-up with Telewest was followed by the acquisition of Virgin Mobile, making it the first operator with a ‘fourplay’ offer of pay TV, internet access, fixed-line telephony and mobile calls.
