Global telecom operators are continuing to shrink their workforce, with total industry headcount falling 1.9 percent year-on-year to 4.36 million employees in the second quarter of 2025, according to new research from MTN Consulting. The decline underscores a structural shift in the sector as operators prioritise automation, AI and cost discipline over headcount growth.
The latest Telco Talent Tracker report shows that the industry has been shedding roughly 20,000 jobs per quarter, extending a long-running contraction that has persisted for more than a decade. While telecom revenues have largely remained flat globally, leading operators have focused on aggressive cost management rather than chasing top-line growth, with workforce rationalisation playing a central role.
However, the research challenges the assumption that layoffs automatically translate into better financial performance. Despite a wave of high-profile job cuts over the past year, MTN Consulting found no clear correlation between headcount reductions and margin expansion, even when allowing for a multi-quarter lag.
“Layoffs are often an easy, highly visible signal to investors that management is serious about cost control,” the report notes, adding that workforce cuts can amount to “virtue signalling” rather than a durable strategy for long-term profitability.
High-profile reductions over the past 12 months have included workforce cuts at Verizon, AT&T, BCE, T-Mobile US, BT, Telefonica and Vodafone. Verizon’s late-2025 decision to cut around 15 percent of its workforce was the single largest move cited in the study.
The data shows that between the second quarter of 2024 and the second quarter of 2025, the steepest absolute headcount declines were recorded at Telefonica, AT&T, BT, Charter Communications and Grupo Televisa. BT’s leadership has been particularly explicit about the role of AI in reshaping staffing needs, with its chief executive suggesting that the company’s previously announced plan to cut up to 55,000 roles by 2030 may underestimate the full impact of AI.
At the same time, the report highlights a countertrend: several operators are adding staff in areas aligned with digital services, data centres and AI-driven businesses. The biggest workforce expansions over the same period were seen at KDDI, Etisalat (rebranded as e&), Bharti Airtel, Masorange, MTS Russia and Telus. KDDI and e&, in particular, are investing heavily in data centre capacity and AI-related businesses, driving net hiring even as the wider sector contracts.
MTN Consulting said this reflects a fundamental change in the profile of the “average” telecom employee. While overall numbers are falling due to layoffs, voluntary retirement and natural attrition, operators are increasingly prioritising skills in software development, cloud services, AI and emerging technologies. Success, the report argues, depends on balancing retraining programmes with targeted hiring, rather than indiscriminate workforce cuts.
From a cost perspective, global annualised telco labour costs stood at $258.1 billion in the second quarter of 2025, compared with $292.9 billion in capital expenditure and $329.0 billion in depreciation-related operating expenses. Labour costs accounted for 21.7 percent of operating expenditure excluding depreciation and amortisation, down slightly from a year earlier.
The analysis also shows wide disparities between operators. Companies with the highest labour costs as a share of opex include BSNL, Turk Telekom, Rostelecom, Telus and Grupo Televisa, often reflecting legacy structures, high pension obligations and unionisation. At the other end of the spectrum, operators such as SoftBank, Taiwan Mobile and Airtel spend a much smaller proportion on direct labour, relying more heavily on outsourcing and partner ecosystems.
Despite rising labour costs per employee — which averaged $58,800 globally in 2Q25, up sharply from 2019 — productivity metrics are improving. Average EBIT per employee has climbed to $63,600, indicating that fewer workers are generating more profit per head than in the past.
The report also points to a symbolic milestone for the industry. In early 2011, telecom operators employed nearly four times as many people as webscale technology companies. By the second quarter of 2024, the two sectors had reached parity. As of 2Q25, webscale firms now employ around three percent more people than the global telecom sector, underlining the shifting centre of gravity in the digital economy.
According to MTN Consulting, the findings reinforce the need for telecom operators to move beyond headline-grabbing layoffs and focus instead on targeted automation, AI integration and workforce transformation to deliver sustainable gains in efficiency and competitiveness.
