C&W promises 'business as usual'

Rumours abound of major European staff cuts

Cable & wireless (C&W) has told the channel that it is "business as usual", despite the fact that the company may be dropped from the FTSE 100. Reports also suggest that it may be forced to cut up to 65 per cent of its European staff.

Eamonn Dullaghan, vice-president of indirect and partner sales for Europe at C&W, said that, as far as the company's channel is concerned, business will continue as before.

"If anything, the recent challenges have engendered a greater need for C&W to maintain its channel," he said.

The company has spent more than £1bn on restructuring recently, but Dullaghan said that it still had plenty of money in the bank, making it attractive to resellers.

However, concern is growing about the telco's channel programme, which is set to be introduced in February. It is believed that the firm will cut back the number of its resellers.

But Graeme Good, business development manager at C&W indirect channels, said: "We are putting targets in place for our partners.

"The initial focus will be on the channel and how it performs, but this will change to what we do for our channel partners. Things such as marketing requirements and training."

James Governor, principal analyst at RedMonk, said C&W was not in a position to pressurise anyone at the moment. "Resellers shouldn't panic. Instead, they should look at contingencies. That is just common sense," he said.

"C&W has often benefited from its somewhat opaque and complex corporate structure. But now it just looks confused."

Sandy Fitzpatrick, senior analyst at Canalys, said: "The whole of the service provider market is pretty dire right now. It is not surprising that C&W is finding business really tough."