ntl jobs axed as billing systems harmonised

The Financial Times has reported that Britain's biggest cable operator, ntl, is planning to cut 2,000 jobs as part of an efficiency drive.

The integration of various customer management systems has long been planned at the company, with different billing systems from acquired operators such as Diamond Cable, Comtel, and Cable and Wireless all needing to be used and maintained during - and after - a massive acquisition spree in the latter half of the 1990s and into the turn of the century. Although strides have been taken in harmonising product availability to consumers across ntl's franchises, the FT reports that ntl is still using eight different billing systems and twenty-eight customer management databases. The new efficiency drive will see those systems integrated, in theory leading to a more efficient organisation - and permitting jobs to be cut.

No details on who will be affected by the cuts have been reported as yet.