By Veronika Gulyas
BUDAPEST--Magyar Telekom Nyrt. (MTELEKOM.BU) plans to lay off up
to 1,700 staff in Hungary over the next year and a half, it said in
a stock exchange filing Thursday.
About 40% of the job cut are expected between Oct. 1 and March 1
next year, and the rest by Jan. 1, 2016 under an agreement reached
with trade unions, Magyar Telekom said. Severance payments are
expected to total 12 billion forints ($52 million), with HUF4
billion of that amount being accounted for in September 2014.
The company agreed to raise wages 4% for low-earning staff from
Jan. 1, 2016, with the increase backdated to July 1, 2015. The
measures are expected to result in a net HUF15 billion of cost
savings in two years, Magyar Telekom said.
The firm also laid off 500 people in 2012, but since then the
overall number of employers has risen to 11,141.
Magyar Telekom is the local arm of German telecommunications
firm Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE.XE).
Write to Veronika Gulyas at veronika.gulyas@wsj.com
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