Vodafone Ireland is to outsource about 200 jobs to IBM as part of its plan to reduce staff numbers. The jobs will be transferred from IT application development and maintenance services, and will account for about 60 staff positions and 130 contract jobs.

The good news for staff is that none of the jobs are expected to be lost, although Vodafone would not comment further on the details of the deal. It is currently negotiating the terms and conditions of the transfer.

Instead, the mobile operator released a short statement on the agreement. “We can however confirm that all Vodafone staff affected will be offered roles either in Vodafone or IBM as part of the process,” the company said in its statement. “We do not anticipate any net job losses as a result of this decision.”

The news may be cold comfort to some Vodafone employees who have already been affected by the company’s cost-cutting strategy. The company has been planning the measures for some time. The move is part of Vodafone’s global IT outsourcing plan, and in January, the company confirmed it was seeking redundancies from its Irish operations.

Vodafone is still the largest mobile network in Ireland, with more than 2.1 million customers. However, while customer numbers are up, average revenue per user continues to fall. This is a phenomenon that has also been experienced by its nearest rival O2, as competition increases in the Irish market.

Vodafone is not the only mobile network turning to outsourcing as a means of reducing costs. In May, rival network O2 Ireland announced it was to outsource its network management. This places up to 450 jobs in danger at the Irish subsidiary. O2 has also cut jobs in recent months.

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