Unitel Communications Inc, Canada’s second long-distance carrier, 20% owned by AT&T Co, is to take a $246m restructuring charge and cut 650 jobs as competition with the former monopoly phone companies starts to bite: it will cut 310 jobs this year and another 340 by 1996, and will also install new equipment to boost network efficiency, redesign processes, close unnecessary equipment sites and lease – instead of build – digital access lines for its private line business; it will have to take a substantial hit to write off the value of its analogue equipment; the other shareholders are Canadian Pacific Ltd, 48%, and Rogers Communications Inc, which holds 32%.
