Telefonica SA’s mobile-phone unit O2 is reportedly aiming to close 40 of its 490 U.K. stores in the next three months, resulting in about 400 job cuts.
According to reports, O2 is planning to close the company’s smallest stores.
According to the company, retail numbers will be the same at the end of the forthcoming redundancy process as current levels, and up on present numbers by the end of the year. It will recruit 250 technology advisers, or Gurus, at the same time, bringing its number of Gurus to 400 in total.
It is unclear whether O2 will seek to have, broadly, one Guru per store, or focus technical resource on tier-one shops.
The move is to expand its portfolio of devices and services and increase investment in technical support for customers.