WorldCom to cut 2,000 jobs

WorldCom jobs in the UK were under threat today as the bankrupt US telecommunications giant announced plans to axe 25% of its overseas staff.

Some 2,000 employees face the axe in WorldCom's Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) division. Although the company said it was too early to say where the jobs would go, officials admitted that Britain would be hard hit.

WorldCom's EMEA division, which operates in 25 countries, has its headquarters in Reading. WorldCom's senior vice-president for the European division, Lucy Woods, conceded there were likely to be "significant redundancies" in Reading, given the proportion of staff who work in the town.

The company employs more than 3,000 people at sites in Reading and Cambridge. The cuts will take staff numbers at its EMEA division to around 6,000 overall.

WorldCom, a long-distance telecoms and internet services company, filed for bankruptcy protection in July, amid disclosures that it has uncovered around $7bn (£4.6bn) worth of accounting errors. Coming after Enron's bankruptcy last December, the news further undermined investor confidence on world markets and left staff in the UK uncertain about their jobs.

WorldCom previously announced job cuts of 17,000 worldwide in the aftermath of the accounting revelations.

WorldCom, based in Clinton, Mississippi, will also make minimal new infrastructure investments, and discontinue certain unprofitable niche products, while maintaining its core retail and wholesale voice, and data services.