Cable & Wireless Global to cut 4000 jobs

(Telephony) Cable & Wireless Global will eliminate 4000 jobs during the next 12 months, citing the need to achieve greater operational efficiency and focus on higher-margin products and services.

No definitive plans for the jobs reduction has been developed, but cuts would be in proportion to the headcounts that currently exist at the company’s main operations in the U.S., U.K., continental Europe and Japan, according to a company spokesman.

About 18,000 workers are employed at these operations, and all of the job cuts will come from this pool.

“We have more workers in the U.S. and the U.K., so more of the cuts will come from there,” the spokesman said.

Cable & Wireless businesses in Latin America, Indonesia, and Australia will not be affected by the job cuts, he said. The company employs about 35,000 people in all of its operations worldwide.

The decision to cut jobs is a direct result of other strategies the company is pursuing. One involves shifting the focus of Cable & Wireless Global from a geographic orientation to one centering on “customer-facing channels.” Three channels--categorized as enterprise, business and service providers--are being developed that will be implemented in the U.S. and U.K. starting April 1, 2001, and in Japan and Continental Europe during the next 12 months.

The idea behind this strategy is that each channel will be responsible for understanding the specific needs of its customers, then tailoring their sales and service activities accordingly.

In addition, Cable & Wireless Global will reduce its 47 network operations centers to five during the next two years--a move the company says will significantly reduce operating costs and improve end-to-end management of service delivery.

Other cost-saving and efficiency improvements will be achieved through long-term outsourcing arrangements. The company previously announced it a contract with Nortel to migrate its backbone voice traffic from circuit-switched assets to an IP platform. Further outsourcing of certain back-office processes also is planned.

Shares of Cable & Wireless traded on the London Stock Exchange dropped 14% Wednesday, closing at 478 British pounds.