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Moto and O2 announce job cuts
Thursday, May 31 2007
by Billy MacInnes


Motorola is to cut an extra 4,000 jobs worldwide, while
locally, O2 has confirmed plans to outsource its technology
function, in a move likely to affect 450 staff.

The latest announcements come a day after Ireland's biggest
telecoms firm Eircom confirmed that it intends to cut 900
jobs over the next three years, with 400 of these to be gone
by the end of 2007.



O2 Ireland, which is the country's second largest mobile
operator, confirmed on Thursday that it met with employees
who would be affected by the decision on Wednesday and told
them that the firm was exploring the possibility of
outsourcing its technology function.



A spokesperson for the company told ENN that it was expecting
to issue an RFP (Request for Proposal) to interested
suppliers, and that any contract offered would cover
maintenance of the organisation's network and management of
its internal IT system.



Ericsson, Nokia, Accenture, IBM and Fujitsu are believed to
be the companies that will be invited to apply to tender for
the contract.



O2's spokesperson told ENN that while there were no definite
dates, he expected the process to begin shortly. "O2 has
been looking at how we operate in a market that is very
competitive and is showing signs of increased convergence
across various sectors," the spokesperson said. 



"The company has been considering ways of moving from being
a pure mobile operator to becoming a full communications
supplier, and one way of doing this is by outsourcing
technology functions and focusing on generating new business
and on customer care etc instead," he added.



Meanwhile, Motorola, which is the world's second biggest
mobile manufacturer, has said that it intends to cut an
additional 4,000 jobs this year as part of its cost-cutting
programme.



The company, which previously announced plans to reduce its
workforce by 3,500 by 30 June, forecast on Wednesday that it
expected restructuring charges of around USD300 million as a
result of the additional jobs cuts.



Overall, the company, which employed 66,000 people at the end
of last year, will have reduced its workforce by more than 11
percent by the end of 2007. 



Irish employees have already been affected by the firm's
previous jobs cull with 330 positions lost in Cork.  



Motorola is hoping that its cost-cutting programme will save
the firm USD600 million annually starting in 2008. Last
month, the company announced that it made a loss of USD181
million, or USD0.08 a share for the first quarter of its
latest financial year.