Vodafone UK chief executive says ‘it’s too early to talk about job losses’ following Three merger

The Vodafone UK chief executive has stated that “it’s too early to talk about job losses” after the recent announcement that the company would be merging its UK-based operations with Three UK to become the nation’s largest mobile phone operator.

The merger, which was announced on June 14, would mean the combined companies would have around 27 million customers, taking it past the current biggest provider Virgin Media O2, which has around 24 million.

Speaking to Ian King on Sky News in his first interview since the deal was struck, Vodafone UK chief executive Ahmed Essam said that “some roles” might be impacted by the merger.

He said: “So it's very early today to talk about job losses, but clearly this case is about investment. And with investment there will be direct and indirect benefit from employment.”

Any "impacted roles" would go through "proper consultation and proper process", he added, but said there is also "a lot of room for reskilling".

"There's a lot of room to to reinvest in the network and deploy resources where it can add value,” he said.

Last month, Vodafone announced plans to cut 11,000 jobs over the next three years and it is thought that this will affect the company’s UK headquarters in Newbury.

It is not yet known if these cuts will take place following the Three merger,

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has confirmed that it will examine the combination of the two mobile phone giants.

The companies said that “from day one, millions of customers of Vodafone UK and Three UK will enjoy a better network experience with greater coverage and reliability at no extra cost”.

The companies also stated that the merger will result in creating “one of Europe’s most advanced standalone 5G networks”.