Wireless carrier T-Mobile said Thursday it plans to cut 5,000 jobs, or about 7% of its workforce.

In email to employees shared in a regulatory filing, CEO Michael Sievert said the layoffs would come over the next five weeks and impact T-Mobile workers across the country � particularly those working in corporate and back-office roles, as well as some technology positions. Retail and customer service teams will not be part of the cuts.

�This is a large change, and an unusual one for our company,� Sievert wrote. �Because of this, we do not envision making additional largescale reductions across the company again in the foreseeable future.�

T-Mobile estimated it will book a pre-tax charge of about $450 million in the third quarter related to the job cuts. Laid-off employees will receive severance payments based on tenure, 60 days minimum of transition leave, career transition services and other benefits, Thursday�s announcement said.

The layoffs at T-Mobile follow mass job cuts in the past year at a handful of companies � including Google, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft. Beyond the tech sector, layoffs have also hit Disney park employees, newspapers and some higher education jobs.

Sievert said the T-Mobile jobs impacted by the upcoming layoffs �are primarily duplicative to other roles� or may not fit with current changes and priorities at the company. He also pointed to rising costs of attracting and retaining customers.

The current restructuring is aimed at getting T-Mobile �efficiently focused on a finite set of winning strategies,� Sievert added � later noting that the company needs �to move at the speed of technology,� by using artificial intelligence and other tools to meet customer needs and stay competitive.

Last month, T-Mobile reported a second-quarter profit of $2.22 billion � up from a $108 million loss seen for the same period of 2022 � and posted total service revenues of $15.74 billion.

The Bellevue, Washington-based company became one of the country�s largest cellphone service carriers in 2020 after buying rival Sprint, In May, T-Mobile also announced plans to acquire Mint Mobile, partly owned by actor Ryan Reynolds, in a cash-and-stock purchase of Ka�ena Corp. worth as much as $1.35 billion.

T-Mobile shares were down 2% in afternoon trading Thursday.

(AP)