The Spanish company Telefónica, which operates mobile telephony and broadband in European countries and most of Latin America, plans to eliminate at least 2,000 jobs and up to 4,000 through voluntary retirements.
The data comes from the agency Reuters, which also ensures that the process will take place in the first half of 2022.
According to the news agency, the company, very complicated by debts, will begin negotiations with the unions in the coming weeks on everything related to the departure of personnel.
Telefónica is the third largest telecommunications group in Europe and has problems sustaining its enormous size, especially when in its main market, Spain, it has to deal with increasingly crowded competition that has increasingly lower costs.
According to sources have detailed to Reuters, the company has been considering the cuts in workforce for months, under pressure from Telefónica investors who see that the marketing strategy is not giving good results.
For now, until this Thursday, November 11, the company has not officially commented on the layoff plan.
There is also no certain data in relation to the countries in which the terminations will take place.
Telefónica has a strong presence in Latin America. In some markets, in fact, it is the most important telephone operator.
Telefónica México is the subsidiary in this country, which operates under the Movistar brand and through four companies: Movistar Empresas México, Atento México, Adquira México and Terra Networks México.
At present, together with the local Telmex, it is one of the two largest telecommunications operators in the country.
At the beginning of 2021, Telefónica finalized the first phase of the agreement reached by the Mexican subsidiary with AT&T in 2019 to use the access networks of the United States giant to extend the service.
According to the Spanish group, the use of said network was successfully completed in regions 1, 3 and 4 of the country, corresponding to the states of Baja California Norte and Sur, Chihuahua, Durango, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas and the municipality from San Luis Río Colorado, in Sonora.
In December 2019, Pegaso PCS, Telefónica’s Mexican subsidiary, had signed a contract with AT&T Comunicaciones Digitales to use the infrastructure in the United States giant’s country.
In this way, AT&T México would go on to provide wholesale wireless last-mile access service to Telefónica México.
Changes in Telefónica’s marketing strategy
Until last year, Telefónica’s restructuring program to recover from the enormous liability was to reduce its presence in the least profitable markets and, with this cash, strengthen its presence in the most relevant ones.
This divestment of the company that owns the Movistar brand covered all Latin American markets, except Brazil.
The plan was to leave, for example, Peru, Argentina and all the Central American countries, with the aim of strengthening in Spain and Germany, markets in which Telefónica has a large market share.
But the post-pandemic came with news and the marketing strategy changed. Looking to the future, the company now projects more investments, expansion of services and more products in the region. A key fact: it will do so without transferring funds from headquarters and with local executives.