Virgin Media O2 plans redundancies affecting a sizeable portion of its 16,000-strong workforce as the telecoms firm manages billions of pounds in debt and increased competition.
The company has not finalised the number of roles to be cut. Most affected staff will work in non-customer facing roles, and senior leadership changes are already under way, according to the BBC. VMO2 will also review its use of contractors and suppliers alongside the redundancies.
As of 30 June, VMO2 carried £27.2bn in total debt against assets worth £45.9bn. The firm faces competition from smaller providers including Hyperoptic, Community Fibre, Gigaclear and YouFibre, as well as from larger rival BT, which has been cleared to acquire TalkTalk.
VMO2 declined to comment. Noel McClean, deputy general secretary of the Prospect union representing VMO2 staff, said the union is "committed to supporting our members through what is a difficult time, as well as also working with employers to explore ways to mitigate the number of redundancies and ensure retraining and redeployment of staff affected".