The telecommunications industry has not been left untouched by the economic downturn; it has begun feeling the pain too! On Thursday, Dallas-based AT&T became the latest big employer to draw back amid the recession – announcing plans to lay off 12,000 people and curb spending on new equipment.

AT&T officials said that as part of the company’s cost-reduction effort, the job cuts would begin this month and continue through 2009; along with a reduction in capital spending. The company had already been struggling, with a decline in revenue from its traditional wireline phone service, as customers continued to drop landlines.

The newly-announced layoffs come on top of 4,600 job cuts the company announced this spring. AT&T had 303,500 employees at the end of the third quarter, and the company says the cutbacks will come primarily in its wireline units.

Candice Johnson, a spokeswoman for the company’s largest union, said about 4,800 of the job cuts will affect workers represented by the Communications Workers of America; while most of the remainder will be management positions. 

Saying that the layoffs will be companywide, AT&T spokesman, Walt Sharp, said that the company also expects to gain jobs in growing areas like wireless, video and broadband. Sharp added that many of the company’s union workers are guaranteed job offers in other parts of the company, and the management employees also will have opportunities to apply for jobs elsewhere in the company.

Sharp also said: “There will be parts of the business where we continue to add jobs to meet customer demand. We remain one of the country’s largest employers and the largest employer of full-time union labor.”