Naspers’ pay-television business MultiChoice Group, owners of DSTV is planning to lay off close to 2,200 workers in a shake-up of its customer care service, the company said on Friday.
The axing will affect workers in South Africa and across the continent. MultiChoice, which competes with Netflix in online streaming via Showmax, said in a statement it is launching a consultation process to cut 2,194 positions in MultiChoice South Africa’s customer care call centres and walk-in centres.
“This has not been an easy decision to make but, in a business driven by advancing technologies, we must continue to drive efficiencies yet be agile enough to adapt to evolving customer needs,” MultiChoice Group Chief Executive Calvo Mawela said.
“We must act decisively to align to the change in customer behaviour and competition from over-the-top services,” he added, referring to video services that stream directly over the internet. If we don’t reposition now, we run the risk of being completely misaligned and we put everyone’s jobs at risk.”
Photo Credit: Getty
