French mobile and broadband operator Bouygues Telecom plans 556 voluntary redundancies in an effort to stay competitive during the price war underway in France. The operator has 9,800 employees in total. Bouygues call centres and store networks will not be affected. Internal mobility will play a big part, according to company secretary Didier Casas. He said that costs had to be brought in line with lower revenues due to the market entry of Free Mobile and the conditions of its roaming deal with Orange. Bouygues Telecom lost 380,000 customers in the first quarter, but its anticipatory low-cost rival to Free had 235,000 by the end of March. AFP reports that profits fell by 34.2 percent year-on-year and Bouygues expects its revenues to fall by 10 percent this year, with around EUR 250 million less operating profit.
