MOBILE OPERATOR O2 Ireland is to cut 50 jobs in Dublin and Limerick as part of a cost-cutting programme.

Employees met management yesterday today to discuss the redundancies, some of which will be compulsory. Staff leaving the company will be offered six weeks’ pay for every year of service and two weeks’ statutory pay.

Owned by Spanish telecoms giant Telefónica, O2 currently employs about 1,300 people in Ireland.

A spokeswoman told The Irish Times that 02 had engaged in an internal restructuring exercise that had resulted in the redundancies, which would be spread across all departments.

As part of the restructuring exercise, O2 will also convert 20 of its retail stores to franchises.

Currently the company owns 52 stores with a further 23 franchise outlets around the State. The spokeswoman stressed there would be no redundancies associated with this move.

O2, the State’s second-largest mobile operator with about 1.7 million customers, reported a small rise in customers in its fiscal third quarter, but experienced a year-on-year fall in revenue of more than 9 per cent.

Telefónica O2 Ireland said it gained an additional 13,761 post-pay customers during the quarter. However, pre-pay subscriber numbers fell by 12,945.

Revenue for the third quarter was €213 million, up from €211 million in the previous three months but down 9.1 per cent on the same period in 2008.

The monthly average revenue per user from mobile customers in the quarter fell by 8.7 per cent year on year, from €43.71 to €39.90, but increased slightly from the second quarter.

In May 2009, the company admitted it had been affected by the economic downturn, with monthly revenue per user for voice services falling.

However, it stated then that it had no plans to reduce headcount at the company.