Pan-African and Middle Eastern mobile giant Zain is to reduce its global workforce by 2,000 positions – a 13 percent reduction across the board – in a bid to improve operating margins. In a statement, the Bahrain-based operator said that the job losses form part of a new strategy known as ‘Drive2011,’ which will focus on customer facing services and commercial activities while centralising or outsourcing some back office/non-core functions. The initiative is expected to improve Zain’s operating margin by 5 percent within 12 months and is linked to the company’s previously communicated target of becoming a top ten global mobile telecoms operator by 2011.

Zain said it will align its head office and operations structures in accordance with the new operating model, which would reduce its current 15,500 global workforce by 2,000. It added that its operations in Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malawi and Sierra Leone have already begun the process, and also announced several senior management changes at both group and country operation level. The firm is targeting 150 million customers and a US$6 billion EBITDA by 2011 as part of its plan to become a global top ten player.