T-Mobile reportedly plans layoffs ahead of MetroPCS merger
The No. 4 wireless carrier in the U.S. is expected to begin cutting more than 100 jobs in marketing and other departments at its headquarters tomorrow, The Seattle Times reports.
Thanks to T-Mobile USA's expected closure of its merger with MetroPCS, the newly combined company is going to find itself with more employees than it knows what to do with.
Actually, it seems the No. 4 U.S. wireless carrier already has a pretty good idea what it will do with some of them, and it involves pink slips. T-Mobile is expected to begin layoffs at its Bellevue, Wash., headquarters as early as tomorrow that could result in the elimination of more than 100 jobs in marketing and other departments, according to The Seattle Times, which first reported on the planned cuts.
CNET has contacted T-Mobile for comment and will update this report when we learn more.
T-Mobile has been reducing its workforce since AT&T abandoned its bid to acquire T-Mobile in late 2011 in the face of regulatory opposition. About three months later, the carrier announced a reorganization that would result in the loss of 1,900 jobs, or about 5 percent of its workforce, mostly at customer service call centers.
The latest round of layoffs is poised to occur as the Department of Justice has apparently given its blessing to T-Mobile's bid to buy MetroPCS. The Justice Department allowed the waiting period to lapse on the planned merger between the two companies, indicating that it doesn't have any objections to the merger.
However, there are still hurdles in T-Mobile's path. The company must secure other regulatory approvals in order to close the deal, including the Federal Communications Commission's green light to the transfer of spectrum licenses. The merger proposal must also win shareholder approval.