Vodafone to cut 11,000 jobs worldwide over next three years

The troubled mobile operator giant Vodafone is to cut 11,000 jobs from its global workforce over the next three years.

The company, whose share price has slumped to a two-decade low, said it needed to cut costs and restructure its business to compete against rivals and improve the experience for its tens of millions of customers.

The job cuts, which amount to about 12% of its global workforce of 90,000, mark the first big move by the new group chief executive, Margherita Della Valle.

“Today I am announcing my plans for Vodafone,” said the former finance chief Della Valle, who was appointed chief executive last month. “Our performance has not been good enough. To consistently deliver, Vodafone must change.”

Vodafone, which has abut 18 million UK mobile customers and more than 1 million broadband customers, is in the closing stages of pushing through a merger with Three to create the UK’s biggest mobile company to compete with rivals.

“My priorities are customers, simplicity and growth,” Della Valle said. “We will simplify our organisation, cutting out complexity to regain our competitiveness. We will reallocate resources to deliver the quality service our customers expect.”

In November, Vodafone cut its annual profit forecast and announced a €1bn-plus cost-cutting plan, including job cuts, to cope with soaring energy bills and inflation.

A month later, the company ousted the two-decade Vodafone veteran Nick Read after a 40% slump in market value during his four-year tenure as chief executive.