KPN says consumer mobile operations at a ‘critical stage’

Telecoms group KPN is to cut back on its consumer activities, which involves slashing its workforce, the Telegraaf reports on Tuesday.

Personnel expect a major round of job cuts but KPN has not yet said how many staff positions will go. A spokesman told news agency ANP on Tuesday the job losses are part of an earlier-announced reorganisation which envisaged 4,000 to 5,000 jobs being cut by the end of this year.

The Telegraaf bases its claims on an internal company memo, in which board member Jesper Eriksen outlines the reasons for the reduction.

‘Compared with our competitors, our operational costs are too high and the speed at which we adapt to and anticipate the market is too low,’ Eriksen says. ‘We therefore find ourselves as KPN and as [the] consumer mobile [division] at a critical stage.’

The former state monopoly has been hit financially by a swing towards free mobile internet services, such as Skype and Whatsapp.

 

 

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