Privatisation has been a salutary experience for Telecom Corp of New Zealand Ltd, and the company says it plans a massacre of staff numbers, aiming to get down to 7,500 by March 1997 from the present 12,700, Reuter reports from Wellington. Staff will be cut to 9,500 by March 1994 and to 8,000 by March 1995, chief executive Rod Deane announnced. The restructuring will lead to an exceptional charge equivalent to $180m for the year to next month. Chairman Peter Shirtcliffe said the restructuring would involve the merging of Telecom’s four regional operating companies into a single unit based in Wellington, adding that the company is operating in the most deregulated market in the world and facing stiff competition from world telecommunications leaders. Five years ago, before the government sold 34.17% stakes to Ameritech Corp and Bell Atlantic Corp, the company employed more than 26,000 people. Despite the planned bloodletting, Telecom Corp just reported a record profit for the nine months to December 31 of $156.7m, up 5.3% and looks for year-end profit to be up a little on last year’s $206m (figures converted at $0.5125 to the New Zealand dollar). Shirtcliffe said Today’s result is the result of planning in the past,while expressing regret at the need for lay-offs.
