Vodafone Netherlands and KPN separately announced job cuts in an effort to cut operating expenses.
Vodafone said it would cut 77 jobs out of its total workforce of 3,200 Dutch employees as part of its plan to reduce Opex by 50 per cent. The operator, according to TelecomPaper, said any reduction would look to spare customer-oriented functions as much as possible. The company confirmed that it will aim to maintain its high service levels and cut costs only in departments without direct customer contact. Staff impacted by the job cuts, which will involve local Works Council officials, will be informed by the end of February.
At KPN, the company said employees should expect a major reduction in headcount--without detailing actual numbers--as part of its previously announced workforce reduction of between 4,000 and 5,000 jobs.
Jesper Eriksen, the director of KPN's consumer residential business, told local newspaper De Telegraaph that the operator will cut back on its consumer-related activities. "Compared with our competitors, our operational costs are too high and the speed at which we adapt to and anticipate the market is too low," Eriksen said. "We therefore find ourselves as KPN, and as the consumer mobile division, at a critical stage."
Eriksen said in a memo to KPN staff that the company's market share in the mobile consumer market was under pressure. "We invest a lot of money to deliver quality," he wrote, according to De Telegraaph. "To defray costs, we will have to work more efficiently. It will be necessary to make cost reductions by working smarter, and this will ultimately lead to a decreasing number of jobs."
For more:
- see this Telecom Paper article (sub. req.)
- see this De Telegraaph article (translated via Google Translate)
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