Italy’s TIM seeks up to 1,200 job cuts by early retirement scheme by November -sources

The Tim logo is seen at its headquarters in Rome, Italy November 22, 2021. REUTERS/Yara Nardi

MILAN, June 7 (Reuters) – Telecom Italia (TIM) (TLIT.MI) is seeking to cut up to 1,200 jobs in its home market by November through a voluntary early retirement scheme, two sources said on Tuesday, in what would be a first round of its job reduction plans.

While ironing out a strategy centred around a separation of the group’s landline grid from its service businesses, TIM CEO Pietro Labriola is also seeking about 1 billion euros ($1.07 billion) in savings between now and 2024.

Under pressure for years due to aggressive price competition on its home turf, TIM, which employs about 42,500 workers in Italy, is meeting unions representatives on Tuesday to discuss an agreement on the early retirement scheme, the sources said.

TIM declined to comment.

TIM is in talks with state lender CDP to combine its fixed network assets, which would be separated from the rest of the company, with those of state-backed Open Fiber to create a single national high-speed broadband operator. read more

The new combined network entity would absorb a significant portion of TIM’s domestic staff.

Similarly to other incumbent telecom operators in Europe, debt-laden Telecom Italia is saddled with high staff costs.

Moody’s investors service calculate they accounted for around 27% of total 2021 operating spending, or 19% of revenue, it said in a report issued last week.

($1 = 0.9374 euros)

Reporting by Elvira Pollina
Editing by Keith Weir

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