Cable firm NTL axes 1,300

Thirteen hundred jobs are being axed over 15 months by US cable company NTL.

Thirteen hundred jobs are being axed over 15 months by US cable company NTL.

The firm, which employs 22,000 staff across the UK, said the decision followed a review after a year-and-a-half of massive expansion.

Bosses said they had identified areas where significant savings can be made. These are believed to be in backroom and support functions as well as areas such as human resources and finance.

NTL, based at Hook in Hampshire, is consulting with employees.

The firm has spent about £9 billion in 18 months buying other companies.

Barclay Knapp, NTL's president and chief executive officer, said following recent acquisitions, the time was "right for us to carry out a review of the way we run our business with an eye toward realising all of the cost benefits of that consolidation".