Magyar Telekom to cut up to 300 jobs in Q1 2009

BUDAPEST, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Magyar Telekom MTEL.BU plans to lay off up to 300 employees, most in the first quarter of 2009, at a cost of 5 billion forints ($27.41 million) this year, the company said in a statement on Monday. It said the job cuts would result in annual savings of 1.8 billion forints in staff-related expenses.

The company, a unit of Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE), also said it had agreed with unions on a 5.6 percent wage increase from April 1, 2009.

At 1114 GMT, Magyar Telekom stock traded down 1.3 percent at 787 forints on the Budapest bourse, outperforming a 3.5 percent fall in the wider market . (Reporting by Gergely Szakacs)