TROUBLED cable company Telewest has moved to reassure staff that it is not planning large job cuts, but said it did see the workforce reducing in the next few years.

The group, which employs 500 people on Tyneside, was reacting to a report claiming it was planning to axe 1,000 jobs by the end of next year, on top of the 1,500 already announced this year.

The report said the debt-burdened firm was planning to shed the jobs and cut spending by a third as part of its restructuring.

Telewest is in talks to restructure its £5.3bn debt mountain, accumulated by building its cable network in the UK.

A deal is expected to take the form of a debt-for-equity swap. Analysts believe such a deal could pave the way for a merger between Telewest and rival NTL, which is due to emerge shortly from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US.

A spokesman for Telewest said: "There are no plans to take out further jobs. We are not going to be making any imminent announcement about jobs."

Later, Telewest's new managing director, Charles Burdick, said he expected the workforce to be smaller over the next couple of years as capital expenditure reduced and the business became more efficient.