Vodafone to cut 11,000 jobs over next three years, biggest layoffs in company's history

British telecom giant Vodafone on Tuesday announced a massive job cut, which will impact at least 11,000 employees over the next three years. In a statement, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Della Vella said, "Our performance has not been good enough. To consistently deliver, Vodafone must change." Vella added that the organisation would be simplified, cutting out complexity to regain its competitiveness.

"We will reallocate resources to deliver the quality service our customers expect and drive further growth from the unique position of Vodafone Business,” she added.

According to a report by the news agency Reuters, the job cuts are the biggest in the history of the group, which employs around 100,000 people.

Vodafone also said on Tuesday that it would generate about 3.3 billion euros of cash this financial year, compared with 4.8 billion euros in the year to end-March it reported, and around 3.6 billion euros expected by analysts.

The telecom giant pointed out that Germany, its biggest market was underperforming which combined with higher energy costs resulted in a 1.3 per cent decline in group core earnings to 14.7 billion euros for the year to end-March.

However, Vodafone said that group revenue increased by 0.3% to 45.7 billion euros driven by growth in Africa and higher equipment sales, offset by lower European service revenue and adverse exchange rate movements.

Recently, Vodafone had cut jobs in several of its big markets, shedding 1,000 in Italy earlier this year and a report said it was looking to axe 1,300 jobs in Germany.

Tuesday's announcement comes days after Vodafone and CK Hutchison were set to unveil a mobile tie-up in the United Kingdom (UK) soon. Commenting on the proposed tie-up, Vodafone there could be no certainty that any transaction would ultimately be agreed upon, Reuters reported.