The spokesman confirmed an earlier report in Handelsblatt that said the agreement included moving large parts of the business to a newly created German subsidiary and affected more than 2,000 staff.

T-Systems chief Adel Al-Saleh, hired at the start of 2018 to stem losses, has reduced T-Systems' headcount in Germany, closed most local offices and hired 3,000 offshore staff to round out its software skills.

(Reporting by Hans Seidenstuecker; Writing by Tom Sims; Editing by Tassilo Hummel and David Clarke)