T-Mobile to lay off 1,900 employees

@CNNMoneyTech March 23, 2012: 9:14 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- T-Mobile USA said Friday that it will eliminate a net 1,900 call center positions in an effort to slash costs at the struggling carrier.

The company said more restructuring will come before July to "optimize operations," though it did not specifically say that additional layoffs would play a part.

"These are not easy steps to take, but they are necessary to realize efficiency in order to invest for growth," Philipp Humm, CEO of T-Mobile USA, said in a prepared statement.

Though still profitable, T-Mobile is rapidly losing customers -- and it's investing billions to play catch-up to bigger rivals Verizon (VZ, Fortune 500), AT&T and Sprint's (S, Fortune 500) next-generation network technology. The carrier's parent company, Deutsche Telekom, is looking to sell the American division, but finding a buyer isn't easy. A planned $39 billion merger with AT&T failed to pass regulatory muster.

America's fourth largest national carrier said it would reduce its number of call centers from 24 to 17 over the course of the next three months, cutting 3,300 positions in the process. The company said the remaining 17 call centers will beef up their staffing, hiring a total of 1,400 workers.

T-Mobile said that it will offer affected call center employees positions at the new facilities and will provide some relocation assistance.

The call centers set for closure are located in Allentown, Penn.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Frisco, Texas; Brownsville, Texas; Lenexa, Kan.; Thornton, Colo. and Redmond, Ore.

The job cuts will impact a company that is already slipping in customer satisfaction. A survey conducted by Consumer Reports ranked T-Mobile next-to-last in customer support, just ahead of AT&T (T, Fortune 500).

T-Mobile said future its restructuring will include creating 1,000 new business sales positions, "plans to revitalize the T-Mobile brand," and a previously announced deployment of 4G LTE network technology. To top of page

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