Virgin Media O2 to cut thousands of jobs and halt planned upgrades in bid to reduce costs

Virgin Media ‌O2 (VMO2) is set to cut thousands of jobs, as it looks to save around £300m through "a reduction in the size of the workforce".

The telecoms firm, which employs 15,000 people, said on Tuesday that it would save £800m ​by 2029 by cutting 30% of its wage bill and making changes to investments - including halting current fibre upgrades.

The majority of the reduction would come from non-customer-facing roles, it added, saying an exact number is yet to be decided.

CEO Lutz Schuler said the ‌changes were tough, but "given the market conditions we face, the regulatory backdrop in fibre and the technological changes sweeping across all areas of the economy, standing still and doing what ‌we've always done is not an option".

It comes after Sky News' City editor Mark Kleinman reported over the weekend that VMO2 was set to axe thousands of jobs amid investor concerns about its ability to service its £22bn debt mountain.

Sources conceded that layoffs at VMO2 would be in the thousands, with one insider suggesting to Mr Kleinman that as many as 4,000 jobs were likely to be affected.

Trade union officials at the CWU and Prospect are understood to have been briefed on some of the impending transformation plans.

In its third quarter results, VMO2 reported a loss of 23,300 fixed-line customers in the third quarter, taking its total to £5.5m, and a drop in adjusted core earnings by 2.6% to £995m.

Other plans floated by VMO2 include talks on using a rival's network ​to expand beyond its own footprint - piggybacking off other operators' infrastructure on ⁠BT's national Openreach network.

It could mean operating like mobile virtual network operators, such as Sky Mobile or giffgaff, which use O2's network.

VMO2 previously planned to upgrade its cable network to ​fibre and expand its footprint through the acquisition of Netomnia, one ​of the largest alternative network providers (altnets).

However, the Competition and Markets Authority opposed the deal last month, saying provisionally that the merger "may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition in the wholesale supply of fixed broadband services". The decision is not final.

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Nexfibre, a ​joint venture between VMO2's owners and investment firm InfraVia, is planning to ⁠challenge the regulator's reasoning.

It also comes after VMO2 previously said it would upgrade its existing cable network, which uses older technology, to offer 2Gbps services to ⁠the majority of customers next year.

(c) Sky News 2026: Virgin Media O2 to cut thousands of jobs and halt planned upgrades in bid to reduce costs