Managers Among 4,650 Losing AT&T Jobs

AT&T said Friday that it would eliminate the jobs of about 4,650 workers, trimming the managerial ranks in its fading home phone business after more than $100 billion in acquisitions.

The decision covers about 1.5 percent of the work force, AT&T, the largest American phone company, said in a regulatory filing. The dismissals are in addition to the 10,000 announced with the $86 billion purchase of BellSouth in December 2006, a spokesman, Walt Sharp, said.

Most of the reductions apply to the local phone business, Mr. Sharp said.

That unit lost 1.6 million residential lines last year as customers switched to cable and wireless phone service. AT&T, which had about 310,000 employees as of Jan. 31, has sought to reduce overlap in its operations since buying BellSouth and the former AT&T Corporation. It plans to cut annual costs by about $7 billion by 2009.

AT&T plans to book a pretax cost of about $374 million for the job cuts in the first quarter. Before the announcement, analysts on average predicted AT&T would report net income of $3.95 billion for the period.

The company is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings on Tuesday. In the previous quarter, sales fell short of analysts’ estimates after some customers failed to pay their bills, hurt by slowing economic growth.

The cuts will occur in all parts of the United States, Mr. Sharp said. AT&T provides home phone service in 22 states. With new hires in other parts of the business, the company expects overall head count to remain stable this year, according to the filing.