Vodafone restructures after 2011 battering

Vodafone will undertake a massive restructure in the coming weeks to bring together its sales and marketing departments, with up to 100 jobs reportedly in the firing line.

According to a report in The Australian, the company issued an internal memo advising staff of a massive restructure of the organisation over the next few weeks as Vodafone struggles to rebuild itself after its network issues last year, which saw the company lose 375,000 customers in the first half of 2011.

According to the memo, Vodafone CEO Nigel Dews said that the company failed to meet revenue expectations last year, and the restructure is part of a revised budget for 2012.

Vodafone today confirmed to ZDNet Australia that the changes would see sales and marketing, including corporate communications, folded into a single group under the lead of sales and distribution director, Noel Hamill.

The company's chief marketing officer, John Casey, and director of communications and corporate affairs, Tanya Bowes, have both been made redundant by the changes, but Vodafone said it was currently "exploring other opportunities for both of them".

"While the restructure will result in changes across most functions in the company, the outcome will be a Vodafone that is more responsive to customers and more cost effective in a highly competitive market," Vodafone said.

The Australian reported that as many as 100 jobs could go in the restructure, but Vodafone did not confirm this today.

Since Vodafone's network troubles at the beginning of 2011, the company has embarked on a massive $1 billion overhaul of its network replacing existing Ericsson 2G and 3G equipment with Huawei cabinets.

The company also began offering extremely competitive plans for mobile phones, and launched an advertising campaign about its network overhaul in an attempt to lure back customers. The tide has begun to turn, although the company lost 375,000 in the first half of last year, this dropped to 55,000 in the third quarter of 2011, and the company added 1000 customers in the last quarter of the year, according to Commonwealth Bank analysts.

The company still has a way to go, however, with Optus expected to add 115,000 new mobile customers, while Telstra will add 342,000 in the December quarter.