KT to cut 5992 jobs via early retirement plan

SEOUL, S.KOREA: KT Corp, South Korea's dominant fixed-line operator and No. 2 mobile carrier, said on Monday about 16 per cent of its workforce would leave the company under an early retirement programme.

KT said in a statement that 5,992 staff would leave, which it projects will result in about 460 billion won ($393.6 million) in labour cost savings annually.

Meanwhile, a Xinhua report said that KT Corp will tap the Chinese telecommunications market starting from purchasing a 25 per cent stake in Omnitel China, a subsidiary of South Korea's Omnitel Inc.

“The purchase is made in a bid to support our subsidiaries and other domestic mobile contents providers' entry into the Chinese market, while we seek related business opportunities there,” the news agency quoted a local media report.