Vodafone has announced 375 job cuts in the UK this month, with 125 of those jobs set to come from its headquarters in Newbury. The operator is under pressure to streamline itself in the face of the T-Mobile and Orange merger.
The merger is set to make Vodafone number three in the top UK mobile operators, after the merged couple and O2. Both Orange and T-Mobile are looking for cost cutting efficiencies, following the approval of their merger by the European Union.
Vodafone is making the new job cuts on top of those hacked away last year, in its £1 billion cost cut drive; the £1 billion was the amount Vodafone feared it would lose in the recession.
Last November Vodafone announced it intended to reduce overheads by an additional £1 billion by 2012, as it has reached its initial cost reduction goal one year ahead of schedule.
Trade Unions have expressed strong disappointment over Vodafone’s announcement.
Vodafone has around 9000 staff in the UK.