Johannesburg - Telkom SA said on Monday that it was considering laying off an unspecified number of staff and closing down some of its stores.
Telkom had earlier denied a union's claim that the company was planning to cut up to 55 percent of its 18 000-strong workforce in a major restructuring.
Telkom, in which the government owns about a 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 Solidarity Union said in a statement it expected to receive a formal notice of the job cuts from Telkom on Monday.
“The company's management informed the trade union that it is planning on restructuring its field force division,” union's spokesman Marius Croucamp said. “As many as 10 000 employees could possibly be affected by the process.”
Telkom disputed the statement.
“Telkom's meeting with organised labour is still ongoing. The claims by Solidarity are incorrect,” said Jacqui O'Sullivan, Telkom's Managing Executive for Group Communication.
“More details will be shared once the meeting and the necessary process has been concluded.”
Telkom also said its field force, made up of staff working outside of offices, such as technicians, was not under discussion on Monday.
Shares in the company were down 0.2 percent at 76.78 rand at 1246 GMT, slightly lagging behind a 0.03 percent decline in the JSE All-share index.
Reuters