Virgin Media will shed over 2,000 jobs as it makes changes to the make-up of it workforce designed to allow the company to function more competitively.

According to the provider, the redundancies are necessary in order to keep to a target of making £120 million savings by the year 2012.

The firm is in billions of pounds of debt resulting from the implementation of its cable network and has recently been locked in negotiations over repayments.

While the recently-announced cuts amount to the equivalent of 15 per cent of the workforce, no staff will be lost until the fourth quarter of 2009.

Chief executive Neil Berkett insisted: "These changes are critical to ensuring Virgin Media is positioned to compete effectively and deliver on our customers' changing expectations.

"We recognise that this brings with it significant uncertainty for our people and the communities where they work."