Mobile phone operator Orange is planning to cut between 1,800 and 2,000 UK jobs in a drive to reduce costs.
The French-owned company said it wanted to reduce its costs by 15% as it adapts to “customer needs in an increasingly competitive environment”.
Orange said the job cuts would be achieved mainly through a combination of redeployment, natural attrition, non-renewal of temporary short-term contracts, and some redundancies.
Chief executive Bernard Ghillebaert said employees “would be treated with dignity and respect consistent with our values”.
Full details of where the cuts will fall will be announced in September, reports BBC News.
The company said it plans to integrate its Wanadoo broadband business with the Orange mobile phone operations.
Further job cuts were announced today by chemicals giant ICI, which plans to reduce headcount by 2,300 within five years, in a bid to reduce annual costs by £170m.
The company, which employs 32,000 people worldwide and 4,000 in the UK, said most of the cuts will be made overseas.
A spokesman said it was not yet known how many of the redundancies would be compulsory.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
ICI previously cut 1,400 posts in 2003 as part of moves to save £70m.
