NTL Telewest could cut a third of UK jobs

Industry rumours are rife that NTL Telewest is preparing to announce major job cuts in its 2006 first-quarter results which are due for release tomorrow. 

Estimates range from 4,000 to 6,000 jobs, which could mean redundancies for a third of the company's 17,000 workforce.

The move is designed to cut £5.7bn of debt, and follows 3,000 recent job losses at Bulldog and up to 2,000 at Orange. 

NTL dismissed the reports as nothing more than rumour. "At the moment this is speculation and NTL Telewest will not comment on that," a company spokesman told vnunet.com. "It will make an announcement as part of the Q1 results tomorrow."

NTL has already outsourced some of its telephone support to call centres in South Africa and India, and may do the same with its remaining eight UK call centres.

The news may also worry staff at Virgin Mobile, which has a large UK-based call centre in Trowbridge, as NTL is currently in the process of buying Virgin.