Virgin Media O2 has become the latest telco reportedly looking to cut hundreds of jobs in the UK.
As first reported by The Mirror over the weekend, between 800 to 2,000 jobs are set to be cut, according to sources.
Reports of job cuts come months after revenue at the company increased by 3.9 percent to £2.6bn ($3.3bn) in the year to April.
The telco is a product of a merger between Virgin Media and O2 which was completed in 2021. The combined units, comprised of mobile, broadband, TV, and home phone services, serve over 47 million customers in the country.
In a statement to DCD, a Virgin Media spokesperson said: "As part of our continued transformation and integration as a business, we’re consulting with some of our people on proposed changes. We’re working closely with employee representative groups and will continue to support all of our employees through this process. As we are still in the consulting phase, and no decisions have been made, we have no further details to share at this stage."
If the company does cut jobs, it will become the latest in a long line of UK-based broadband providers to do so.
BT recently announced plans to cut 55,000 jobs by the end of the decade, with many expected to be repurposed through AI, while Vodafone plans to cut 11,000 jobs worldwide.
As for some of the alternative fiber network providers (altnets), CityFibre, which has secured billions in funding, announced up to 400 job cuts; just under a quarter of its workforce, while Zzoomm laid off 300 workers (around half its workforce). G.Network is reportedly planning its own layoffs.
Last week, full fiber broadband provider Hyperoptic was revealed to be cutting five percent of its workforce, with more than 100 engineers set to lose their jobs.
Another rural fiber provider, Broadway Partners, fell into administration earlier this month. Launched in 2016, the company aimed to connect 250,000 homes and businesses by 2025. The company raised £145 million from investment firm Downing LLP in 2021. Other providers are expected to file for insolvency in the coming months. In 2021, UK altnet People’s Fibre entered administration.
