AT&T announced late Friday that it plans to eliminate about 1.5% of its workforce or 4,650 jobs, specifically cutting back on managerial positions within its wireline business. The layoffs are part of the company’s previously announced plan to cut annual costs by about $7 billion by 2009. The country’s largest telecom said it expects to post a pretax cost of about $374 million for these cutbacks in its first quarter report.
Since the company’s acquisition of BellSouth in late 2006, AT&T has said it plans to reduce workforce overlap in operations, but the company, which reported having about 310,000 employees as of the end of January, says it plans to keep its employee levels stable throughout this year as it hires more people to support growth areas.
In more AT&T news, the company announced that through a subsidiary it has completed the Edge Wireless acquisition. Edge Wireless provides wireless communications services in Oregon, Northern California, Idaho and Wyoming.
AT&T said that with the addition of Edge’s wireless network, it will be able to deliver broader wireless coverage to customers in the Northwest, including Edge’s existing subscribers.
The acquisition follows review and approval by the FCC.
