NTL is to zap 2,000 jobs over the next couple of years. The cableco isn't planning a sweeping redundancy programme and it doesn't know yet which jobs are to go, according to the FT which got the scoop.

But it's clear that NTL needs to get into shape before it prepares for its much-talked-about- but-nothing-official-yet merger with Telewest, creating the UK's monopoly cable supplier. That means headcount must fall from current levels of around 14,000 to 12,000.

NTL employees should be used to news of jobs cuts by now. Between 2001 and 2002 the company shed 6,500 jobs - a third of its workforce - as it came to terms with losses of £11.1 billion.

And only this month, the cableco confirmed that 370 jobs had been lost. ®

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