OREANDA-NEWS. February 17, 2015. Telkom SA, South Africa's biggest landline provider, is planning a "major restructuring" that could result in up to 10,000 job losses, the Solidarity Union said on Monday.

Telkom, in which the government owns about 40 percent stake, is in the middle of a turnaround plan that aims to bring down costs and better compete with wireless operators MTN Group and Vodacom.

The union said in a statement that it expects to receive a notice from Telkom on Monday.

"The company's management informed the trade union that it is planning on restructuring its field force division," the union said. "As many as 10,000 employees could possibly be affected by the process." Telkom officials could not be reached immediately comment.

Shares in the company were down 0.9 percent at 76.17 rand 1046 GMT, slightly lagging behind a 0.2 percent decline in the JSE All-share index.