Vodafone to cut 121 jobs after shutting down Burton offices

Review of property portfolio leads to telecoms giant wielding the axe

British telecommunications giant Vodafone is to axe 121 jobs as it closes down its Burton offices.

Management at Vodafone Business Services told staff that the company is moving out of the building, based at The Maltings, with more than 120 people losing their jobs, the Burton Mail reports.

The firm said it was hoping that other positions would be created elsewhere for those who are likely to be let go, as it will replace the Burton branch with ‘centres of customer excellence' across the UK.

The shutting down of Vodafone's Burton site is the result of a review of its property portfolio that was started after its £1.04bn acquisition of Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW) in July 2012.

CWW had offered access to business telecoms services through a combination of fibre, digital microwave radio and leased circuits.

In a statement sent to Computing, a Vodafone spokesperson said that the review was undertaken as part of the post-acquisition integration process.

"The review recommended investing our resources in creating a smaller number of state-of-the-art, specialist ‘Centres of Excellence', focused on customer services and technology," the spokesperson explained.

"These centres will bring people and skills together in the same locations - in new and refurbished buildings - so they can work better to provide the highest level of service for our customers. As part of this review, we propose to close our Burton building by March 2015".

The new centres will be based in Glasgow, Manchester, Stoke and Newark. Vodafone's technology hubs will be based in Birmingham, Bracknell, Glasgow, Manchester and Newbury.