Telekom Austria to axe 1,500 workers

Austrian carrier Telekom Austria won market approval this week, for its decision to shed 1,250 jobs over the course of 2009.

On Wednesday, the operator reported a 6.2 per cent year on year decline to Eur163m during the third quarter, while revenues for the period were up 4 per cent year on year to Eur1.33bn.

The consolidation of Belarusian mobile player Velcom helped to boost revenues, but the company’s European mobile operations took a hit from the decline in voice roaming traffic as a consequence of regulation introduced by the European Union in the second half of 2007.

Group CEO, Boris Nemsic, noted healthy growth in the mobile communications segment, driven by strong international performance and a 50 per cent growth in subscriber numbers. While fixed line loss was halved with broadband bundles proving effective in maintaining market share and counteracting fixed to mobile substitution.

Nevertheless, as part of its Fixed Net restructuring operation, the company will cut about 1,250 employees from the fixed line unit in the course of 2009, which will require a provision of around Eur630m.