US telecoms firm fires 5,000

BellSouth sets aside up to $300m for redundancies

Between 4,000 and 5,000 workers and managers will lose their jobs with the third largest local telephone company in the US, BellSouth.

The jobs represent about 5% of the company's total workforce.

BellSouth said the jobs would go because a slow economy, tough competition and pricing pressures had forced it to cut costs.

"We must continue to reduce our cost structure in order to compete," chief executive Duane Ackerman said.

"We also must continue to deliver our products and services at competitive prices to meet the increasing demands of our customers."

Redundancies

The company said it would set aside between $250m and $300m to pay for the redundancies.

The management jobs would probably go as part of a voluntary separation plan.

Other layoffs would be handled in accordance with BellSouth's working agreement with the trade union Communications Workers of America.

The job cuts come just days after its sister company Baby Bell, SBC Communications, announced 5,000 job cuts of its own because the weak economy had dampened demand for telephone and data services.