Cable & Wireless is looking to broadband for future growth

The group, which has shed 23% of staff since 2003, also announced a number of management changes and a plan to return �250m ($464m) to shareholders.

Its head office is moving from London to Bracknell in Berkshire and the firm has sold businesses in the US and Japan to focus on UK and Caribbean services.

Six month profits from continuing operations rose 8% to �199m.

Cable & Wireless said sales in the year to 30 September had fallen to �1.62bn, from �1.73bn in the same period last year.

The company, which also has offices in Manchester, Milton Keynes and Birmingham, has not revealed the exact locations of the planned job losses.

Broadband opportunities

Cable & Wireless is splitting itself into four divisions.

Chief operating officer Kevin Loosemore will be leaving the firm by March 2005, with chief executive Francesco Caio taking more control over the UK operations, which account for more than half the group's sales.

Cable & Wireless is to invest up to �85m over this and the next financial year in Bulldog, the broadband internet service it bought in May.

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Cable & Wireless said it hoped growing opportunities in both voice and data services would help Bulldog achieve sales of �250m within four years.

"Investing in broadband will give us genuine new revenue streams," said Mr Caio.

"We are targeting growth where growth is happening."

The company said it was now in a better position to cope with increasingly competition in its key market of providing services to corporate customers but said conditions "are likely to remain challenging in all our businesses".