Verizon plans to eliminate approximately 15,000 positions as part of its restructuring efforts, according to sources.

Verizon intends to eliminate approximately 15,000 positions in its most significant layoffs to date, as part of a reorganization initiative under its new CEO, according to a source acquainted with the situation who informed Reuters on Thursday.

The layoffs, impacting approximately 15% of the workforce, are scheduled to occur as early as next week, according to the source.

A representative from Verizon refrained from providing a response.

The layoffs, subsequent to the appointment of former PayPal CEO Dan Schulman in early October, target the non-union management sector and are anticipated to impact over 20% of that staff, according to one source. Verizon intends to convert approximately 180 corporate-owned retail locations into franchised operations, according to the source.

The Wall Street Journal previously revealed the reductions.

Schulman stated last month that Verizon recognized the necessity for assertive change, encompassing “cost transformation and a fundamental restructuring of our expense base.”

“We will operate as a more streamlined, efficient, and resourceful enterprise,” he added.

Schulman, a Verizon board member for seven years, has expressed his desire to avoid pricing increases and to adopt a more customer-centric approach. “Our financial expansion has been excessively dependent on price escalations; a strategy that prioritizes price without subscriber growth is unsustainable,” he stated last month.

At the conclusion of 2024, Verizon employed approximately 100,000 individuals in the United States, having reduced its workforce by nearly 20,000 during a three-year period. Last year, it announced a reduction of 4,800 personnel via a voluntary program and incurred an approximate $2 billion charge. In 2018, Verizon announced that approximately 10,400 employees would depart under a previous voluntary separation program.

Verizon upholds the highest pricing in the industry, a policy that analysts indicate is challenging to maintain in the face of increasing competitive pressure.

Craig Moffett, senior analyst at MoffettNathanson, stated that the new CEO’s primary objective is to mitigate subscriber churn, necessitating the subsidization of costly handsets for a substantial portion of Verizon’s subscribers to retain them.

“The pertinent inquiry was how Verizon intended to finance that.” “We are now informed,” stated Moffett. “What we don’t know is whether these cost reductions will actually help to offset the higher planned costs of retention” of customers.

In recent years, Verizon invested $52 billion to obtain essential wireless C-Band spectrum in a 2021 auction and finalized a $20 billion agreement to acquire Frontier Communications last year. It additionally expended $6 billion to acquire the prepaid mobile phone operator TracFone Wireless.