NEW YORK (AP) — Wireless carrier T-Mobile said Thursday it plans to cut 5,000 jobs, or about 7% of its workforce.
In an email to employees shared in a regulatory filing, CEO Michael Sievert said the layoffs would come over the next five weeks and impact T-Mobile workers across the country — particularly those working in corporate and back-office roles, as well as some technology positions.
Sievert said the impacted roles "are primarily duplicative to other roles" in the company. He also expressed how retaining customers is at play.
"What it takes to attract and retain customers is materially more expensive than it was just a few quarters ago," Sievert wrote.
Retail and customer service teams will not be part of the cuts.
“This is a large change, and an unusual one for our company,” Sievert wrote. “Because of this, we do not envision making additional largescale reductions across the company again in the foreseeable future.”
T-Mobile estimated it will book a pre-tax charge of about $450 million in the third quarter related to the job cuts. Laid-off employees will receive severance payments based on tenure, 60 days minimum of transition leave, career transition services and other benefits, Thursday’s announcement said.