Carrier Oi cuts 6% of workforce
Brazilian wireless carrier Oi said it was laying off 1,070 employees, or 6% of its approximately 18,000-strong total direct workforce. Last year, the company eliminated about 150 jobs at the manager and director levels.
In a comment to RCR Wireless News, the telecom operator said it expects this year to be challenging both for Brazil’s macro-economy and for the telecommunications sector. With this in mind, the carrier said it has developed a strategic plan to ensure that its operations will be productive and profitable. That plan includes slashing 6% of its direct workforce.
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The job cuts are part of a larger plan that also includes freezing open positions, with a goal of trying to bring down personnel-related expenses by nearly 20%. Oi ended last year with a consolidated net loss of $1.4 million, after accounting for the impact of the PT Portugal asset sale.
Oi recently began a project to implement an optical transport network aimed at a 57-times increase in its backbone data transmission capacity. The OTN project covers 30,000 kilometers reaching 12 cities, including Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Belo Horizonte and Vitória. Oi said the deployment is being made in order to meet the expected increased demand in data transmission.
Two other carriers in the region – Telefónica Brasil and Nextel – are also set to eliminate jobs, Reuters reported.
Reports indicate that labor cuts are not just affecting Brazil’s telecom sector; automobile manufacturers have pink-slipped about 8% of the total workforce, and similarly, civil construction payrolls have been reduced by about 7%.
