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The announcement comes as the firm fights with rising costs in the increasingly competitive market
T-Mobile US has announced that it will cut 5,000 jobs in the US, reducing its 71,000-person workforce by 7%.
The job cuts will take place over the next five weeks, and will include both corporate and back-office roles, although the cuts will not impact the firm’s retail and customer care divisions.
“Impacted roles are primarily duplicative to other roles, or may be aligned to systems or processes that are changing, or may not fit with our current company priorities. Some areas of the business will be implementing more centralized models where they can improve efficiency and effectiveness and save costs. We’re also taking opportunities to build bigger, broader people manager roles with deeper spans and fewer layers, to provide longer-term growth opportunities. At the same time, we’ll also be decreasing our reliance and spend on external workers and resources,” said CEO Mike Sievert in an email to staff.
“Today’s changes are all about getting us efficiently focused on a finite set of winning strategies, so that we can continue to out-pace our competitors and have the financial capability to deliver a differentiated network and customer experience to a continually growing customer base, while simultaneously meeting our obligations to our shareholders,” he added.
In the release of its Q2 reports last month, T-Mobile reported profits of $2.2 billion, up from a $108 million loss for the same period last year. Furthermore, the firm announced a gain of 760,000 postpaid mobile customers, its highest increase in the quarter for eight years, and the most in the US mobile industry.
Considering the firm’s recent success, laying off so many employees may appear questionable, especially given the company’s promises of job creation surrounding the company’s merger with Sprint. Sivert added that “the time to challenge the status quo and write the next chapter, is WHILE we are still successful. That’s how we sustain it.”
It is estimated that the firm will incur a charge of around $450 million as a result of the move.
Upon the announcement on Thursday, shares were down 2%.
T-Mobile’s largest rivals are also undergoing major workforce reductions in recent years; AT&T has cut roughly 45,000 in the last two years, while Verizon has cut around 18,000 in a similar time frame.
Join the discussion around America’s changing telecoms market at next year’s operators in discussion at Connected America 2024 live in Dallas, Texas
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