Telenor to cut 400 jobs in Sweden
The Swedish business of Norwegian telecom operator Telenor announced plans on Wednesday to slash 400 jobs in Sweden due to disappointing sales figures.
"Despite our major efforts, revenues have not increased at the desired rate. We now have significantly higher prices than our rivals and this is untenable long-term," said Lars-Åke Norling, head of Telenor Sweden, in a statement.
"In order to reach our goal of being competitive in the Swedish market, we must reduce our costs and work more effectively. Unfortunately, that means we have to reduce the number of positions, which is obviously a difficult decision for the entire organization."
In addition to cutting 400 full-time positions, primarily in the cities of Stockholm and Karlskrona, Telenor Sweden will also terminate contracts with 135 consultants.
The Norwegian operator saw net profits plunge two-thirds in the first quarter because of the impact of the economic crisis, particularly in Russia and Ukraine, and the company had announced it would be cutting costs.
In addition to the layoffs, Telenor Sweden also plans to offer a number of employees redundancy pay plus two months of severance pay if they choose to leave the company voluntarily.
Negotiations with unions are now underway, and Norling told the TT news agency he hopes that by September the company will have determined exactly how many of the employees currently given notice will actually have to leave the company
Telenor has a total of 39,250 employees, including 2,400 in Sweden.
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"Despite our major efforts, revenues have not increased at the desired rate. We now have significantly higher prices than our rivals and this is untenable long-term," said Lars-Åke Norling, head of Telenor Sweden, in a statement.
"In order to reach our goal of being competitive in the Swedish market, we must reduce our costs and work more effectively. Unfortunately, that means we have to reduce the number of positions, which is obviously a difficult decision for the entire organization."
In addition to cutting 400 full-time positions, primarily in the cities of Stockholm and Karlskrona, Telenor Sweden will also terminate contracts with 135 consultants.
The Norwegian operator saw net profits plunge two-thirds in the first quarter because of the impact of the economic crisis, particularly in Russia and Ukraine, and the company had announced it would be cutting costs.
In addition to the layoffs, Telenor Sweden also plans to offer a number of employees redundancy pay plus two months of severance pay if they choose to leave the company voluntarily.
Negotiations with unions are now underway, and Norling told the TT news agency he hopes that by September the company will have determined exactly how many of the employees currently given notice will actually have to leave the company
Telenor has a total of 39,250 employees, including 2,400 in Sweden.
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