Boingo Wireless slashed 16 per cent of its workforce as part of a plan to move away from legacy business lines and reallocate resources to operator services and other key growth opportunities.

A company representative told Mobile World Live the cuts represent approximately 80 jobs and are expected to save $11 million in annual operating costs.

The representative said Boingo Wireless’ business “changed significantly over the past few years, with the growth of DAS, carrier offload, military and multi-family” housing opportunities, but noted its corporate structure had not previously been updated to account for the shift.

Layoffs were a “difficult step” but necessary to prioritise sales in growth areas over its legacy retail Wi-Fi and advertising businesses and drive long-term revenue and profitability, the representative added.

In Q3, Boingo Wireless revenue dipped less than 1 per cent year-on-year to $64.7 million. DAS revenue accounted for 37 per cent ($23.7 million) of the total, with military and multi-family revenue contributing abother 37 per cent ($23.6 million). The remainder came from wholesale Wi-Fi (17 per cent), retail (6 per cent) and advertising (3 per cent) businesses.

The company expects to book $2.2 million in restructuring charges in Q4, primarily related to employee severance and benefit costs.