Vodafone planning to shift UK jobs overseas in cost-cutting drive

Beleaguered telecoms giant Vodafone is planning to shift UK jobs overseas in a cost-cutting drive, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. 

The FTSE100 company – which is under pressure from an activist investor – is switching roles from its business division to its services teams in Egypt, India, Hungary and Romania. It is not clear how many UK jobs will move offshore. 

Watching brief: Vodafone is switching roles from its business division to its services teams in Egypt, India, Hungary and Romania

Vodafone is creating a new unit, called Vois Business Services, as a result of the restructure, according to an internal memo. 

It is understood the aim is to reduce expenses by streamlining some teams and sharing more technology, while moving jobs to cheaper locations. 

But the move raises questions as to the structure of Vodafone Business and its subsidiary Vodafone Global Enterprise (VGE), which provides corporations with workplace mobile contracts. The firm said the restructure would ‘enhance efficiency’ and help grow ‘global products at scale across markets’. 

The MoS this month revealed that Vodafone is also cutting UK jobs by moving mobile contracts handled by VGE in the UK to wherever the client is based overseas. 

The moves come after Europe’s biggest activist investor Cevian took a stake in the firm. It is understood it could push Vodafone to bulk up operations in key countries and sell businesses elsewhere. 

Vodafone rejected a recent £9billion offer for its Italian business from French operator Iliad. Vodafone chief Nick Read sent an internal memo last week saying priorities include ‘scale in major European markets including Italy’.