South Africa’s Vodacom plans to outsource network maintenance in the country to cut costs, raising union concerns at a time when rival MTN is in the midst of a worker strike, according to Reuters.

In a move to address concern, Vodacom spokesman Richard Boorman told the publication that “there would be no job losses if the envisaged changes go ahead”.

He said the company was “investigating the possibility of consolidating existing outsourced maintenance contracts and potentially outsourcing some of our field maintenance activities”, which would include the management of the company’s radio base stations and transmission network.

Vodacom is embarking on a large scale investment to expand its data network, but plans for tougher cost controls in South Africa echoes similar strategies from rivals Telkom and MTN.

MTN said this week it will cut “hundreds of jobs”, following the strike of 2,000 employees over a pay dispute.

The Communications Worker Union (CWU), which is leading the MTN strike, expressed its concerns over Vodacom’s plans.

“We are shocked and dismayed again that you are busy outsourcing our members without consultation with the union,” said union general secretary Aubrey Tshabalala in a letter to Vodacom seen by Reuters.

According to company sources, potential outsourcing partners include Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson. A deal would run for three years, from 1 November.