(7 March 2006 2:40 pm)

MUMBAI: AT&T has revealed its plans to eliminate about 10,000 jobs following its $67 billion acquisition of BellSouth. The decision has been taken in order to reduce costs and beef up the company's business in the increasingly competitive telecoms sector.

According to media reports, the job cuts are part of an $18 billion cost reduction plan, which is cited as one of the biggest benefits of the BellSouth deal. AT&T now also aims to reduce annual overheads by as much as $2 billion a year once the deal is complete.

The proposed 10,000 job cuts will take place over the next three years, mostly through normal employee turnover rather than layoffs, the company informed on 6 March. The 10,000 planned cuts are in addition to the 26,000 job cuts AT&T has already announced, 13,000 due to SB Communications' acquisition of AT&T Corp.

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AT&T set to buy BellSouth for $67 billion