AT&T plans to cut about 4,600 jobs, or 1.5% of its workforce, to shift resources to growing parts of its business, an Associated Press report said.
The US's largest telecoms provider said most of the lay-offs will be among managers, particularly in fixed line operations, including local phone service and service for large corporate customers.
Jobs in corporate functions in like finance will also be cut.
'Even with the reductions, we expect our head count overall to remain stable this year as we hire additional employees to support growth areas like wireless and TV,' spokesman Michael Coe commented.
In a regulator filing, the Antonio-based company stated that it plans to take a US$374 million (€235.64 million) first quarter pre-tax charge against earnings due to the job cuts.
The company will report its first quarter earnings this week.
The company had 309,500 employees at the end of last year. When it announced the acquisition of BellSouth in 2006, it has said it would cut 10,000 jobs over three years from the combined company to eliminate overlap.
The cuts are not part of that reduction, and is the largest announcement of job cuts by the company since then.