According to Wireless Federation, Orange Kenya has confirmed it will be laying off nearly 400 employees over the next few weeks as a cost-cutting effort to regain profit revenues. The company's CEO Mickael Ghossein was reported by the publication saying that the new strategy “would shift focus in the commercial aspect of the business” where Wireless Federation said the layoffs would reduce operating costs in order to boost revenues. Analysts say the restructuring program, however, will do little in the short term to increase their profit margins. “What they need to be focusing on is customer service and to lose hundreds of employees will certainly affect this,” began ministry of communications consultant Robert Lamidi. “With a lot of concerns from customers over the service they are currently getting, to think this will help their overall growth is sketchy.” The country's Communications Workers Union is challenging the layoffs, saying it was not consulted beforehand. “Since acquiring a 51% stake in the company, France Telecom has been on a turnaround plan to get the company back to profitability,” Wireless Federation reported. Ghossein continued to say that they would begin looking into new ways to develop “revenue streams that make it attractive to customers.” BM
