Orange-controlled group Telekomunikacja Polska SA (TPSA) said it plans to cut up to 2,950 employees in Poland by 2015 through voluntary redundancies, as part of plans to cut the company's headcount to around 15,000 people by 2016 in order to meet the challenges of a tough competitive environment.
Warsaw-based TPSA, which has now rebranded as Orange Polska, said in a statement that a social agreement reached with the trade unions will enable people who have worked for the company for more than 10 years to take advantage of the voluntary departure package. Staff will be offered compensation packages ranging from four times to 15 times their monthly salary, depending on seniority, TPSA said.
TPSA also plans to sell the Wirtualna Polska Web portal, affecting 413 staff. Bloomberg noted that the reductions account for about 14 per cent of the carrier's total workforce of 20,541 at the end of September.
Orange Polska is reported to have previously said that it may cut up to 5,000 jobs between 2014 and 2016. The company also took up the offer of financial help from Orange Group in March after seeing revenues decline since 2007 as competition increased and the country's telecom regulator imposed price reductions on operators.
The TPSA management said the financial impact resulting from the social agreement will be recorded in the accounts for the fourth quarter of 2013.
Orange provides fixed and mobile voice, data and TV services in Poland and competes on the mobile market with T-Mobile Poland, Plus and the youth-centric Play Mobile.
Bloomberg added that TPSA plans to spend as much as 2 billion zloty ($660 million or €478 million) in a spectrum auction next year.
For more:
- see this Bloomberg article
- see this Reuters article
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