The telecoms provider, owned by Liberty Global and Telefonica, plans to cut its wage bill by 30 per cent to achieve £800 million in savings by 2029. Chief Executive Lutz Schüler attributed the pivot to market economics that cannot sustain three overlapping fibre networks alongside recent regulatory hurdles. As part of this transition, the group will upgrade its existing cable system to deliver 2Gbps speeds to most customers next year. The business is also holding discussions to expand its coverage footprint by piggybacking on rival BT's Openreach network.
Key points
Most planned workforce reductions across the 15,000-employee company will impact non-cust…: Most planned workforce reductions across the 15,000-employee company will impact non-customer-facing roles.
Existing cable infrastructure will be upgraded next year to deliver 2Gbps broadband speed…: Existing cable infrastructure will be upgraded next year to deliver 2Gbps broadband speeds to most customers.
Future fibre investments will remain off-balance sheet and strictly target areas not serv…: Future fibre investments will remain off-balance sheet and strictly target areas not served by alternative networks.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
LONDON, Nov 3 : Virgin Media O2 is set to cut thousands of jobs and scale back its fibre ambitions as it seeks to increase its profitability in Britain's fiercely competitive broadband and mobile markets.
The telecoms operator, which is jointly owned by Liberty Global and Telefonica, is being squeezed by the roll-out of rival BT's national fibre network and scores of small "alt-nets" offering cheaper, faster connections.
Virgin Media O2, which employs 15,000 people, said on Tuesday that it would save £800 million by 2029 by cutting 30 per cent of its wage bill, with the majority of the reduction coming from non-customer-facing roles.
The company also said it was in talks about using a rival's network to expand beyond its own footprint, which would mean it piggybacking on BT's national Openreach network.
This is already used by providers such as Sky and Vodafone as well as BT's own consumer and business services.
'TOUGH BUT NECESSARY'
CEO Lutz Schüler said the changes were tough but necessary.
"Given the market conditions we face, the regulatory backdrop in fibre and the…
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