Troubled telecoms group ntl is set to cut 2,000 jobs over the next three years, it emerged last night.

Chief executive Simon Duffy said the company would have to reduce its staff from 14,000 to 12,000 in the next three to four years to bring numbers in line with other firms of its size.

Mr Duffy made his remarks at a conference in Barcelona on Thursday.

But a spokeswoman for the company stressed yesterday that the cuts would not be made immediately and said the group did not have a redundancy programme.

Instead, it hopes to reduce its staff largely through natural turnover during the next three years.

The news comes as the group enters the final stages of a financial overhaul.

Ntl was forced to file for bankruptcy protection in May last year after debts spiralled on the back of a spending spree made at the height of the telecoms boom.

It emerged from bankruptcy protection in January after the firm's bondholders agreed to swap £6.8bn worth of debt for shares, leaving the company in their control.

It supplies homes and business with television, telephone and Internet access, as well as providing network infrastructure for mobile phones through its broadcast arm. It has its North-East headquarters on Teesside and its logo used to appear on Newcastle United's famous black and white shirts.

Most of its North-East customers live in Hartlepool, Redcar and Darlington.

The group, which is based in Hook, in Hampshire, but listed on the tech-heavy Nasdaq stock market index in New York, announced earlier this month that it was planning to use proceeds from an £800m rights issue to pay off its remaining high interest debts.

The move should help it be cash flow positive next year.