During its two day Investor Conference at the end of last week, Spanish carrier Telefónica hinted at workforce cuts in its domestic market, potentially affecting as much as 20 per cent of headcount in Spain, or some 6,000 employees.

The cuts, revealed by Guillermo Ansaldo, head of Telefónica’s Spanish business, would take place over three years, as part of a focus on higher productivity drives which may also include outsourcing of operations and mobile network sharing – such as the deal struck between O2 and Eircom in Ireland. Certain IT applications and real estate will also be sold off for gains in the region of €600m, Ansaldo said.

Telefónica will look to its Latin American operations for the bulk of future growth, with the domestic unit underperforming and Spain in the grip of economic downturn.