The UK's second biggest cableco, Telewest, is to slash 1,500 jobs as part of plans to save up to £50 million a year.

Publishing its first quarter results today Telewest chef exec, Adam Singer, said: "I am announcing measures designed to create an even leaner Telewest, and bring forward a break-even cash position. Regrettably, this will result in significant job losses."

The cableco's headcount will fall from around 10,500 to 9,000 following the restructuring. Up to two thirds of of the redundancies could be compulsory, according to reports.

Looking at the numbers, total turnover for the three months to the end of March was up 4 per cent to £334 million compared with Q1 2001.

Pre-tax losses for the quarter were £166 million, down 21 per cent on the corresponding quarter a year earlier.

The cableco said debt stood at around £5 billion.

Telewest also announced that cable modem broadband numbers continued to grow boasting a total of 148,000 broadband subscribers. ®