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The move comes as part of the company’s wider focus on efficiency under new CEO Marc Murtra
According to anonymous insiders speaking to the Financial Times, Telefonica is proposing to cut up to 5,000 in its home market, Spain.
Sources say that roughly 3,650 roles at Telefónica Spain could be cut, representing around 41% of the unit’s total headcount. Around 1,100 jobs at Telefónica Mobile an around 270 at Telefónica Solutions could also be on the chopping block.
The sources stressed that no formal decision has been announced and actual job cuts could be lower.
The UGT (Unión General de Trabajadoras y Trabajadores) trade union has confirmed these plans, having been told by management that the cuts are being made for “organizational, technical, and production reasons”.
The UGT is demanding that all job losses are carried out as a “purely voluntary process based on early retirement schemes”.
The announcement of these job cuts at Telefonica should not come as a surprise, with downsizing having been underway across the Group for years. In January last year, Telefonica reached an agreement with unions to cut around 3,400 jobs in Spain, describing the decision as ‘necessary’ for the company’s long term growth. By 2025, with new CEO Marc Murtra at the helm, Telefonica was looking to further accelerate its streamlining efforts, with Murtra pledging to further reduce costs and focus on the company’s four key markets, Brazil, Germany, Spain, and the UK.
Rumours that these cost-cutting measures would result in further Spanish job cuts first began to circulate back in May.
The announcement of the impending job cuts comes shortly after Telefonica’s Capital Markets Day, in which Murtra stressed the need for further cuts and pledged to make ‘tough decisions’ for the business’s long-term welfare.
Ultimately, the company’s is seeking to save €2.3 billion by 2028, and €3 billion by 2030
As part of the announcement, Telefonica said it would cut its dividend in half, move which saw the company’s share price sink by over 10%.
Meanwhile, Telefonica’s retreat from its overseas empire continues. The company has been divesting of its Latin American operations, notably pulling out of Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Uruguay earlier this year.
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