Around 160 roles are to be made redundant at the combined Three and O2 mobile operator following Three’s acquisition of O2 Ireland from Telefónica for €850m.
The job cuts consist of 160 roles, including 85 at the head offices of both Three and O2 and 75 retail jobs around Ireland.
However, a spokesman said 90 new jobs are to be created at the former O2 customer care facility in Limerick, bringing the total workforce there to 440 employees.
A further 25 IT and network contract jobs are to be created, as well.
The overall restructuring plan will result in the net reduction of 70 jobs, a spokesman for the company told Siliconrepublic.com.
Three said a generous redundancy package of six weeks ex gratia payment plus two weeks statutory per year of service will be provided to departing staff, as well as appropriate outplacement support.
Redirection of resources
“These staffing changes are designed to redirect resources to enhance service and to ensure an efficient network that best serves our customer needs,” Three CEO Robert Finnegan said.
“We had signalled that integrating two businesses would inevitably result in some duplication of roles, and whereas we can’t side-step that challenge, we can and will ensure that departing staff are treated fairly and generously.
“We are pleased at the same time to be able to create new roles as we bring all customer-facing customer care roles back to Ireland. Additionally, we are confident that our planned €300m investment in our high-speed network will require up to 100 full-time equivalent roles through third-party contractors over the coming three years,” Finnegan added.
The European Commission approved Three’s acquisition of O2 Ireland from Telefónica in May.
Last week, Three signed a network-sharing deal with Eircom that runs to 2030 and will see some 2,000 new 4G cellular sites built across Ireland.
