Sprint, Verizon, AT&T job cuts were front and center on this week’s Telecom Careers Insider, sponsored by Nexius and TelecomCareers.
For insight on who is hiring and the life of a product manager at GE Power, check out RCRtv or listen to the Telecom Careers Insider podcast.
By the numbers
Before diving into who is hiring and who is firing, check out the employee numbers below:
- Verizon
- 177,900 employees
- $127 billion revenue (2014)
- 110 million wireless subs; 5.8 million Fios; 1700 retail stores
- AT&T
- 243,620 employees
- $132 billion revenue (2014)
- 120 million wireless subscribers; 3.5 million business; 12 million U-verse subscribers
- T-Mobile – 45,000 employees
- Sprint – 33,000 employees
Who is Firing?
The last 30 days have been tough on mobile operator employees; however, keep in mind that announcing layoffs in the third and fourth quarters has long been a telecom tradition. Below is a recap of previously announced layoffs.
- Sprint – Reducing expenses by $2.5 billion that should not impact its network; cutting severance to one week for each year served. Those with an elephant-like memory will recall that Sprint announced a $1 billion cost-reduction plan back in 2003 following the telecom bust.
- Verizon Wireless – Reducing 20 regional operations centers to six.
- AT&T Mobility – Cutting 200 jobs in Houston credit and collections center; Texas president said they are hiring 850 in Texas; hired over 4,000 year to date. Sue Marek from Fierce Wireless predicts that AT&T’s move to SDN will result in more job cuts.
- On the bright side, T-Mobile US raised $2 billion allocated for spectrum acquisition.
Who is Hiring?
Verizon Communications is on a roll this year in terms of product announcements. No doubt these announcements equate to new hires in “Internet of Things”-related software jobs as well as network engineering and operations positions tied to fiber builds and small cell network deployments. Below is a summary of Verizon Communications activity:
- Verizon continues its execution on network, cloud, security and IoT initiatives.
- The worst-kept secret in the industry is that Verizon has been buying metro and long-haul fiber wherever they can to support planned small cell network deployments.
- At the recent HetNet Expo event, Verizon was recognized as the HetNet, small cell leader.
- Verizon announced Thingspace – IoT Connection manager.
- Launched Connected City Platform as a Service, with an initial focus on smart lighting.
- Verizon IoT business has generated nearly $500 million year-to-date 2015
- Check out Verizon’s State of IoT and Smart City website.
- Verizon acquired AOL to get its hands on a video-advertising platform, then launched Go90, a video broadcast platform with 8,000 titles and 35 exclusive original series.
- Verizon signed the National Basketball Association to a $400 million marketing agreement.
Additional job-producing insights include:
- Lost in the cost reduction news, Sprint announced Mobility as a Service, targeting enterprise customers with a flat fee per employee for mobile phone use. Earlier this year, Sprint Business announced Workplace as a Service.
- RCR Wireless News contributor and industry insider Jim Patterson posted a thoughtful article comparing Verizon to AT&T, which characterized their strategies as follows:
- Verizon has a mobile-first, social entertainment platform, Go90; and
- AT&T focused more on fiber to home and SMB along with being a content channel evidenced by its DirectTV acquisition. Not mentioned in Patterson’s article was AT&T’s commitment to invest $500 million in a Chernin Group joint venture to invest in and launch online video businesses. Since the April 2014 announcement, The Chernin Group has acquired FullScreen, one of YouTube’s largest multichannel operators and Rooster Teeth, an Austin, Texas-based WebTV production studio targeting Mellenials.
Day in the life of a product manager
Finally, in this week’s Telecom Careers Insider, Joey Jackson, writer and producer for RCR Wireless News, dropped in to discuss his recent visit to the GE Power Management business unit in Dallas. “I like visiting the labs the most because I get to see them tear things up” Jackson said. Jackson produces the following programs for RCR Wireless News:
- GIGS – a close-up view of the industry’s coolest jobs;
- DIGS – who has the best place to work? Check out RCR Wireless News’ DIGS programs; and
- How it works – From “chalk talks” at trade shows to hands-on product demonstrations, RCR Wireless News keeps you informed on the latest technology.
On this week’s program, we reviewed a day in the life of a product manager, featuring a product manager from GE Power Management.
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