AT&T said in a regulatory filing that it will cut its workforce by 1.5 percent – or 4,600 jobs – with most of the cuts affecting management-level employees.

The nation’s largest telecommunications provider, which had about 310,000 employees near the end of last year, expects that the job cuts will result in a first-quarter pre-tax charge of $374 million.

"The reductions we’ve announced are the next step in streamlining our operations – particularly in non-customer-facing positions – to operate more efficiently after bringing together several companies in recent years,” AT&T said in a statement. “Even with the reductions announced today, we expect our headcount overall to remain stable this year as we hire additional employees to support growth areas like wireless and TV.”

AT&T reported a 2007 fourth-quarter profit of $3.1 billion. The company has made several large acquisitions in the past few years, including the purchase of BellSouth in 2006 for more than $80 billion.

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