HARTFORD, Conn. _ Altice USA, the media company that took over Cablevision's operations earlier this summer, is laying off 600 workers at a call center and a back office facility in Connecticut, citing improvements in technology that have led to a significant decline in call volume.
Employees were notified of the layoffs Tuesday morning. The workers will lose their jobs in November, a company spokeswoman said. Altice USA operates internet, TV and phone services in the tri-state area under the Optimum name.
"Over the last few years, there have been investments and enhancements to our Optimum products and services, making them more reliable and providing more customer service touch points than ever before," the company said in a statement. "As a result, we have seen a significant improvement in customer call volume and patterns. As we look to strengthen our operations in the nation's most competitive market, we are aligning our contact center organization to meet the current needs of our customers."
Lisa Anselmo, head of communications for Altice USA, said the company will retain hundreds of workers in Connecticut in other jobs _ including field service technicians, technical teams that monitor the company's network in the state and employees at walk-in locations. Customers will experience no changes in service, she said.
Laid off workers will be able to apply for other positions within the company, but Anselmo said it was too soon to say how many employees would be kept on. As part of the Cablevision acquisition Altice USA took over News 12 Networks and those operations will remain unchanged.
Altice, a Netherlands-based multinational telecommunication company, bought Cablevision last fall for $17.7 billion, including billions in debt. The Federal Communications Commission approved the deal in May. Altice USA was formed in June and includes the former Cablevision and Suddenlink, a broadband provider in the Midwest.
David Cadden, a professor of business at Quinnipiac University, said job cuts are often "standard operating procedure" following acquisitions.
"The immediate response is how do we begin to eliminate _ as they charmingly refer to it _ duplication," he said. "The easiest way to get your operating expenses down is your labor costs."
Altice Tuesday reported second-quarter earnings of $2.52 billion, up 2.7 percent. Shares surged 11 percent on European markets.
