Indian operator Tata Teleservices (TTSL) is planning a “unification” of its CDMA and GSM businesses, which could see it cut 15 percent of its workforce. According to the Economic Times, the operator issued an internal memo on Sunday detailing its plans. “This restructuring may drive efficiencies but could end up making job positions redundant,” said a TTSL source. “Our estimate is 15 percent of the employee strength, which include employees eased out on the basis of non-performance. CDMA employees will be impacted the most due to this restructuring.” TTSL operates a CDMA business under the brand Tata Indicom while offering GSM-based services under the Tata Docomo brand – Japan’s NTT Docomo has a 26 percent stake in the latter. The operator is the sixth largest in India on 93 million subscribers in total. However, according to the regulator, less than half of both its GSM and CDMA subscribers are classed as “active” (ie: make or receive at least one call a month.)

According to the internal memo, the combination of the CDMA and GSM businesses will lead to the creation of four regional heads: Vineet Bhatia (West & Upper North) Mahesh Thampi (East and UP), Yatish Mehrotra (South) and Ajit Chaturvedi (Delhi and Rajasthan). They will report to Deepak Gulati, the exec in charge of TTSL’s mobile businesses nationwide. The Economic Times notes that TTSL’s move is part of a wider trend of streamlining within the Indian telecoms sector. The report estimates that at least 8,000 job positions across the Indian mobile sector will be culled by the end of the year.