Telefónica Deutschland has announced it would cut up to 1,100 full-time posts by the end of 2026 and close around 60 shops.
The German subsidiary of the Spanish group, which trades as O2, said the reduction was part of a wider transformation of the business. It amounts to roughly one in six of the 6,820 full-time positions the company recorded in January.
Management and employee representatives from key business units agreed a voluntary leaver programme covering a significant share of the cuts, taking social factors into account.
The 60 outlets to be shut are company-owned shops drawn from a network of around 800 own and partner stores, a reduction of about 8 per cent. Telefónica Deutschland said it was adapting its retail structures to a continuing shift towards digital sales channels.
Chief executive Santiago Argelich Hesse, in post since January 1, said the company was realigning its team and its processes to defend its competitive position.
“We are simplifying the organisation, consolidating activities and intensifying the use of artificial intelligence,” he said.
The company said the German market was increasingly saturated and that consumers and society were making demands that went beyond connectivity. It also pointed to technological leaps such as artificial intelligence and growing internal complexity.
Behind the reorganisation lies the loss of its largest wholesale customer. Rival 1&1 switched to Vodafone in 2024 and moved around 12 million mobile customers off the O2 network by the end of 2025.
Revenue fell 3.8 per cent to €8.2 billion in 2025 and the adjusted operating result dropped 8.8 per cent to €2.5 billion.
A restructuring provision of €265 million would be booked in the second quarter of 2026, with a further €155 million expected in the second half of the year once the remaining measures are defined. The company said the changes should generate annual savings of around €185 million from 2028.
More streamlining is planned across all sales channels and within customer service, to be carried out in stages until 2028. Detailed plans for those areas were still being drawn up.
