South African telecommunications firm, Telkom, is looking to trim as much as 40% of its total workforce as part of an ongoing effort to cut costs.<\/p>\n
This is according to a report from Bloomberg<\/a>, which said that the JSE-listed company aims to cut its workforce to about 8,000 by July – having identified 6,250 positions that it wants to eliminate.<\/p>\n The company’s workforce is at 13,895 as of 29 January, Bloomberg said.\u00a0Telkom\u2019s staff count in 2015 was put at 18,333 \u2013 down from 19,197 in 2014, and 21,209 in 2013.<\/p>\n Citing an internal document, Bloomberg said that a plan known as Project High Ground<\/strong>, will see reductions come from outsourcing 3,750 positions to other companies and moving a further 2,000 to a company it bought, Business Connexion.<\/p>\n A further 500 positions would be cut altogether.<\/p>\n “To secure the future sustainability of Telkom, we have to take serious actions to manage the very difficult environment within which we operate,” spokeswoman Jacqui O\u2019Sullivan said.<\/p>\n “Data prices continue to drop while demand grows and we face all of this with a cost base that is not aligned to local competitors and global trends.”<\/p>\n Telkom\u2019s current employee cost-to-income ratio is about 24%, which it wants to reduce to 16%, Bloomberg noted.<\/p>\n More Telkom retrenchments on the way: union<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Telkom profit hit by retrenchments<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Telkom retrenchments cost R1.5 billion<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n New details emerge on Telkom retrenchments<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nMore on Telkom<\/h3>\n