Spanish telecoms firm MasOrange to cut nearly 800 jobs

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Madrid, Spain — Spanish telecoms firm MasOrange plans to cut around 800 jobs, or around 10 percent of its workforce, in Spain, a union and the firm said on Tuesday, the latest in a string of layoffs in the sector in the country.

The company, which was born in March from the merger of French telecoms giant Orange’s unit in Spain and Spanish rival MasMovil, is the country’s second-largest telecoms firm after former state monopoly Telefonica.

The job cuts plan was presented by the firm on Tuesday and it “aims to cut a maximum of 795 jobs in six of the nine companies that make up the group, the UGT union said in a statement.

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MasOrange and unions will start negotiating the layoffs on September 17, the union added.

“UGT rejects the measure, which deepens policies of destruction of well-trained, well-paid jobs that bring wealth and added value to the economy of Spain,” the statement said.

MasOrange confirmed the job cut plan, saying it “will be voluntary” and involve a maximum of 10 percent of employees.

Heavily indebted Telefonica announced in December plans to cut 3,400 of the group’s 16,500 jobs in Spain by 2026 as part of efforts to cut costs and boost profitability.

Vodafone Spain announced in June that it was planning to axe almost 1,200 staff, more than a third of its workforce, just weeks after it was bought by investment fund Zegona from Britain’s Vodafone.