Hi Anxiety: KPN shuts down youth mobile brand

The telecom brand Hi is disappearing from the marketplace within a few months. On May 1, the activities of the carrier will be placed under the brand of the parenting company KPN, according to Hi’s webpage. All 52 Hi retail shops are at risk of shutting down, or being converted into a storefront for another KPN brand. The majority of the personnel will be provided jobs elsewhere within KPN, reports Volkskrant. Hi currently employs 315 people with the workforce amounting to 215 full-time equivalents. According to KPN, discontinuing Hi is part of a strategy to simplify the parent telecom company’s operations. It is also motivated by the convergence of needs of generally younger Hi users and average KPN subscribers. Nothing will change for current Hi customers, the company stresses. Existing contracts will be automatically transferred to KPN before July 1.