Thousands of Virgin Media O2 staff face redundancy risk as the telecoms firm looks to save money in the face of billions of pounds of debt and tougher competition.<\/p>\n
The broadband provider has not finalised the number of roles to be cut but it is likely be a sizeable chunk of its 16,000 workforce, the BBC understands.<\/p>\n
VMO2 has billions of debt on its balance sheet and is tackling competition from both smaller providers as well as giants like BT, which has agreed a deal to acquire rival TalkTalk, a move which VMO2 has firmly opposed.<\/p>\n
VMO2 declined to comment. The Prospect union, which represents VMO2 staff, said the cuts were “disappointing and very unsettling”.<\/p>\n
Deputy general secretary Noel McClean said it is “committed to supporting our members through what is a difficult time, as well as also working with employers to explore ways to mitigate the number of redundancies and ensure retraining and redeployment of staff affected”.<\/p>\n
The majority of the affected staff will be in non-customer facing roles and a number of senior leadership changes are already under way, the BBC has been told.<\/p>\n
VMO2 is also expected to review its use of contractors and suppliers in conjunction with the job cuts that were first reported by Sky News.<\/p>\n
As of 30 June, VMO2’s total debt stands at \u00a327.2bn while it holds assets worth \u00a345.9bn, according to the firm’s latest accounts.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the company is dealing with fierce competition from cheaper “altnets” like Hyperoptic, Community Fibre, Gigaclear, and YouFibre.<\/p>\n
VMO2’s had attempted to respond to this growing threat by buying altnet competitor Netomnia for \u00a32bn via nexfibre, a joint venture owned by VMO2’s owners.<\/p>\n