COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Jan. 20, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- TDC has previously informed about the need for a 5% reduction in the domestic workforce in 2006, equivalent to approximately 720 full-time employees. A part of this reduction, equivalent to 150 full-time employees, is carried out as natural attrition and internal replacements. As such TDC has decided to initiate a redundancy program for up to 570 employees in the period until the end of 2006. The redundancy program will initially be carried out as voluntary resignations in accordance with the agreements that have been made with the telecom departments of the Danish Metalworkers Union, the Association of Managers and Employees in Special Positions of Trust and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations in order to reduce the number of actual redundancies.
The headcount reduction follows from TDC's domestic business experiencing the impact from IP-based technologies, web-based self-service and "do-it-yourself" installation products. These types of services and technologies do not have the same manning requirements as the traditional landline telephony business. Parallel with the headcount reduction we will continue to focus on the possibilities to increase intra-Group mobility and job-rotations in order to reduce the need for future workforce reductions.
The total costs associated with the headcount reduction are estimated to approximately DKK 342m after tax, which will be expensed as a one-time item in 1Q 2006.