Washington: American telecom major AT&T Wireless Services Inc is planning to lay off more than 10 per cent of its 30,000 workers over the next year and is discussing outsourcing arrangements with companies that employ people in India and elsewhere overseas.

While major outsourcing deals have not been finalised and could fall through, requests for proposals have been issued and AT&T Wireless is negotiating with several prospective partners, 'The Wall Street Journal' reported today (Nov 19) quoting "people familiar with the situation".

It is considering laying off more than 3,000 people during the next year, possibly beginning late in the first quarter, largely in customer service and Information Technology.

The paper said that the company, based in Redmond, Washington State, has been looking internally for employees interested in spending several months in India to help train workers of whatever company is chosen to handle customer support functions.

PTI