Vodafone cuts 200 jobs in latest restructure, plans tech reinvestment

One in ten to go as Vodafone restructures

Around 200 employees, roughly one-tenth of the total, are set to lose their jobs in Vodafone's latest restructure. The company says it will hire another 150 staff in new roles to support its key priorities.

It is the third time in three years Vodafone has reduced its staff numbers.

A statement from Vodafone describes the restructure as: "accelerating its long-term strategy to deliver benefits to customers faster".

Yet another reorganisation

Along the way the company's business units will be reorganised. Vodafone's consumer and enterprise teams will now handle both sales and service delivery. Previously the two functions were seperate. At the same time certain roles will be moved out of these teams and into a new company-wide commercial team dealing with "product experience".

Vodafone says these changes will eliminate duplication.

A raft of other initiatives were announced at the same time as the job cuts. Vodafone says it plans to spend $110 million improving the sales and customer experience. The company has struggled in the past with customer service.

Vodafone says it plans to spend $115 million to accelerate its programme developing digital products and services. Earlier this week it announced it would spend an extra $100 million on mobile and internet coverage. This includes adding to the 5G footprint.

Spark results show Covid's limited impact

Spark saw a 1.5 percent fall in revenue in the first half of the 2021 financial year. The company attributes the drop to the lack of high margin mobile roaming income as the border closed because of the Covid pandemic.

Underlying performance remains strong, remove the roaming loss from the picture and Spark's mobile service revenue increased 3.8 percent on the previous year. Cloud, security and service management revenue all increased in the year.

The company previously warned it would take a $75 million hit over the year because of Covid. This estimate has been cut to $50 million.

Full year operating profit remains on track to come in at around $1.1 billion, roughly the same as last year.

Fixed wireless push: At the earnings briefing Spark CEO Jolie Hodson said the company aims to have between 30 and 40 percent of fixed line broadband customers on fixed wireless by 2023.

Copper transition behind Chorus first half profit fall

Chorus reported a net profit after tax of $24 million for the first half of the financial year. This was down 22.5 percent on the same time last year, mainly because of customers moving from the copper network to new services, especially in non-Chorus fibre areas.

Operating revenue fell to $473 million from $483 million while operating expenses were flat at $150 million.

The year saw fibre uptake climb from 60 percent to 63 percent. That's a total of 62,000 more fibre connections.

Vodafone shows its 5G fixed wireless hand

Vodafone now offers a 5G fixed wireless broadband service. At present it is restricted to parts of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown. An unlimited data plan costs $79 a month or $69 when purchased with certain mobile plans.

Customers can get the same home routers Vodafone offers to fixed broadband users. The company says it plans to progressively roll out the service to more areas over the next year. Vodafone says its 5G fixed wireless can reach speeds of 750Mbps and up to 1Gbps in optimal conditions, however, in practice this varies depending on a number of factors.

Sky profits as customers switch to broadband

Sky posted a first half profit of $39.6 million. That's up more than 300 percent on last year's $11.9 million and comes despite revenue falling seven percent to $357 million.

There's a clear shift from the company's satellite service to streaming. The company's television revenue fell nine percent while streaming grew by 80 percent. It expects further growth in both Neon and Sky Sport Now in the coming year. The company also says it is now weeks away from launching its own broadband service.

Spark lures business accounts with Microsoft 365

Spark is to offer Microsoft's software suite to new business customers. Those signing for selected endless business mobile plans will get a year's subscription to Office 365 Business Basic. Customers who sign for business broadband plans get a subscription to Office 365 Business Standard. The deal includes help with setting up the software.