Difficult times mean difficult decisions ... we are determined to continue to drive down costs and improve customer service

Stephen Carter, NTL Chief Operating Officer

The latest cutbacks are part of an additional 2,000 jobs to be lost across the company's UK operations on top of 2,000 previously announced.

Senior managers have defended the move as a response to economic circumstances.

NTL Chief Executive, Barclay Knapp said: "The initiatives being announced today are a continuation of our cost-cutting programme.

"They are prudent in the current climate and will allow us to operate more efficiently."

The company insisted no customer serving roles woud be affected by the redundancy programme.

Stephen Carter, Chief Operating Officer of NTL added: "Difficult times mean difficult decisions and in the UK we are determined to continue to drive down costs and improve customer service.

"That is why associates in customer serving roles will not be made redundant."

As well as reducing staff, other money saving measures announced on Monday included a review of operating expenses, a pay freeze for managers and the review and removal of all non-essential consultants and contractors.

NTL provides cable services in urban south Wales

The company said the job cuts would be made through a mixture of voluntary and compulsory redundancies.

NTL's workforce consists of sales and marketing staff, project managers, engineers and call centre workers.

The group, which is currently in talks with staff and unions about the cuts, said it was too early to say how badly its Welsh bases at Cardiff and Swansea would be affected.

The company said at the start of 2001 it was wanted to trim its workforce and has already reduced UK numbers from 21,800 to 17,000.

It originally planned to have 17,000 staff by the end of the year, reducing the number further to 15,000 by the end of 2002.

But NTL said it was "accelerating and deepening" the initial plan.