Three Ireland has announced a number of redundancies as a result of its recent acquisition and integration of O2 here.

The mobile phone company said that 160 people will be laid off due to duplication across the two companies.

Three Ireland plans to lay off about 85 people in its head office, while about 75 people will be let go across its retail business.

The company also said that a number of fixed term contracts across the business will not be extended when they expire.

However, the company said that 90 customer care jobs will be created over the next year, which will bring staffing numbers at Three Ireland's customer care centre in Limerick to 440.

Another 25 jobs have been created during the past year in its IT and Networks division as a result of the deal for O2.

According to the company, workers will be offered a redundancy package of six weeks ex gratia payment plus two weeks statutory per year of service.

Three's €780m deal for O2 Ireland was approved by the European Commission in May and was legally completed in July.

Another €70m is payable depending on reaching certain financial targets.

"These staffing changes are designed to redirect resources to enhance service and to ensure an efficient network that best serves our customer needs," commented Three Ireland's CEO Robert Finnegan.

"We had signalled that integrating two businesses would inevitably result in some duplication of roles, and whereas we can’t side-step that challenge, we can and will ensure that departing staff are treated fairly and generously," he added.