South Africa’s Telkom SA has cut 12.5 percent of its permanent jobs, it said yesterday after posting a 22.6 percent surge in full-year earnings as upbeat performance in its mobile business offset declines in the traditional fixed-line unit.
Telkom, which runs South Africa’s biggest fixed-line telecom network, said it had 15,296 permanent jobs on March 31, down from 17,472 in the year ending in March last year, due to voluntary severance packages, voluntary early retirement packages and other layoffs under the country’s labor law.
Some job cuts came from Telkom’s information and communications technology business, BCX, where the number of permanent employees fell 13.4 percent to 5,782 under a cost reduction program.
“We expect the savings from this program to come through in the next financial year,” Telkom said in its result statement.
Headline earnings per share, the main profit measure in South Africa, came in at 7.22 rand for the year until the end of March, compared with 5.89 rand a year earlier.
Telkom, 40 percent owned by the South African government, is seeking to transform the business with heavy investments in its mobile phone unit and by rolling out fiber Internet packages.
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