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Text:
T-Mobile US to Lay Off 5,000 Employees
Wireless-services company plans to cut corporate, back-office positions
T-Mobile says attracting and retaining customers is materially more expensive than it was just a few quarters ago.
PHOTO: MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS
By Will Feuer
Updated Aug. 24, 2023 9:55 am ET
T-Mobile US plans to lay off about 5,000 employees, or 7% of its workforce, as the cell carrier looks to reduce costs amid rising competition in the wireless industry.
“Right now, our company is at a pivotal crossroads,” said Chief Executive Mike Sievert. “What it takes to attract and retain customers is materially more expensive than it was just a few quarters ago.”
The layoffs will come over the next five weeks and mostly affect the company’s corporate and back-office employees, Sievert said in a memo to staff disclosed in a securities filing. He said retail and customer-service employees won’t be impacted.
Most affected positions are duplicative roles or aligned with company processes that are changing, he said. T-Mobile has been working to digest Sprint after closing its takeover of the rival cell carrier in 2020.
“Some areas of the business will be implementing more centralized models where they can improve efficiency and effectiveness and save costs,” he said. T-Mobile also is reducing is its reliance on contractors, he said.
T-Mobile said it expects to book a pretax charge of about $450 million in the third quarter related to the workforce reduction.