CenturyLink Plans to Trim Its Workforce

According to FierceTelecom, CenturyLink (CTL) is planning to cut as many as 175 jobs in the 16 states the company serves. The company also terminated holiday bonuses for its employees. As of the quarter ended September 30, CenturyLink had 46,000 employees.

According to FierceTelecom, a CenturyLink spokesman wrote, “As part of CenturyLink’s ongoing effort to remain cost-competitive and align resources with customer demand, we will offer voluntary separations to select union-represented field operations employees.” FierceTelecom added, “Citing the merger with Level 3 and the implementation of automation across its network as key factors, CenturyLink cut about 1,000 employees from its workforce back in May.”

CenturyLink’s pro forma adjusted EBITDA, excluding integration-related expenses and special items, rose YoY (year-over-year) in the third quarter, to $2.3 billion from $2.1 billion. Its adjusted EBITDA margin increased YoY to 39.3% from 35.5% as the company concentrated on driving profitability through cost and capital efficiencies across its operations.

To compare, Verizon’s (VZ) consolidated adjusted EBITDA margin was 37.4% in the third quarter, while AT&T’s (T) combined domestic wireless operations EBITDA margin was 42.8%. Frontier Communications’ (FTR) adjusted EBITDA margin was 41.3%.