Virgin Media O2 to cut thousands of jobs, saving £800m

Virgin Media O2 to cut thousands of jobs, saving £800m

Virgin Media O2 will cut thousands of jobs from its 16,000-strong UK workforce as part of a plan to save £800m a year by 2029. The telecoms company, jointly owned by Liberty Global and Telefonica, says about £300m of those savings will come from job cuts that lower labour costs by around 30 percent. It has not confirmed how many roles will go, but says most affected jobs are not customer facing and will be concentrated in head office, IT and support functions. The firm will also cut its use of contractors, review suppliers and expand its use of artificial intelligence tools. The group carries more than £22bn of debt and lost 23,300 broadband and 7,800 consumer mobile customers in the three months to September. Chief executive Lutz Schuler said standing still is not an option, and a fuller strategic update will follow in the coming months.