You can file at least part of this post under ‘bad news’ – in the sense that redundancies are rarely, if ever, good news, for all of those involved. Vodafone UK are said to be preparing to axe as many as 500 jobs in an effort to cut costs. According to TechDigest, Vodafone UK are apparently considering to lose as many as 500 jobs, in what is a basic cost-cutting exercise. Having been on the chopping block more than once myself in the Telecoms industry, I can completely empathise with those inside Vodafone UK who are being looked at for ‘downsizing’.
Vodafone UK has around 9000 people employed in the UK, but the job cuts are aimed heavily at their HQ in Newbury, Berkshire. Living not too far from there, and of course having been to HQ a number of times, it’s more like an (enormous) campus – but still, 500 people is a lot. Interestingly, Vodafone UK have confirmed though that they are looking to add 170 ‘customer facing roles’ (is that staff in VF shops, or customer service – I can’t tell), along with 50 graduate roles.
However, that’s not the only news – CSS Insight analyst Shaun Collins is of the opinion that the company might be considering the acquisition of 3 UK network. Now, given that Vodafone and 3 merged their operations in Australia, this isn’t beyond the bounds of reality, and given also that T-Mobile and Orange are merging in the UK, it all adds more fuel to the fire. Will it happen? Well, right now, your guess is still as good as mine.
Hopefully any merger that does occur won’t create another round of downsizing – as I said at the beginning of the post, that’s not good news for anyone involved.
[Via: TechDigest via: Net Imperative]