Telecoms firm is cutting 115 jobs

Jersey Telecom employs more than 400 staff in the island

More than a quarter of posts at Jersey Telecom (JT) are to be cut in a bid to save £7m in the coming year, the States-owned company has announced.

The firm, which employs about 400 people, said up to 80 staff were to be made redundant as it needed to cut costs across the entire business.

It is in addition to 35 people who signed up for voluntary redundancy, and further posts which will not be filled.

The GMB union has described it as a "sad situation" so close to Christmas.

The company said it still had to cut costs despite making savings of £2.6m this year and pre-tax profits in 2008 of £11m.

JT chief executive officer Bob Lawrence said the move was necessary to ensure the business was "fit for the future".

Bob Lawrence explained the firm's plans

He said: "We face a challenging future where the pressures from competition, regulation and ever-changing technology is resulting in us having to make substantial operational cost savings and fundamental changes to both our structure and the way we in which we work.

"This means that we will have to take a number of tough decisions to achieve this."

Tim Langlois, from the GMB union, which represents more than 300 of JT's employees, said the situation had come about because of decisions made by politicians to introduce competition.

He said: "In an island this small it is madness. JT could have been regulated without competition which would have had the same effect on prices.

"JT is a Jersey States-owned company that is being destroyed by unrealistic targets imposed upon them by the regulator."

He said the union would work "tirelessly" with managers to ensure that JT's redundancy process was followed.

JT offers mobile and broadband services in Guernsey, under the name Wave Telecom.

Tim Ringsdore, managing director of Wave Telecom, said: "Although most of the anticipated job losses will be in Jersey, the group cannot rule out some reductions in Guernsey."