ROME Vodafone said on Thursday it had reached an agreement with unions over managing 1,003 job cuts in Italy needed to cut costs.

The British telecoms giant said the deal was aimed at transforming its Italian business model and containing the social impact of the redundancies, which cover almost a fifth of its total workforce in the country.

Under the accord the group will offer, among other things, career coaching services to employees interested in launching their own business, Vodafone said in a statement.

The decision to streamline its operations in Italy came after a fall in revenues and margins resulting from "extraordinary competitive pressure" in the telecoms sector, the company said in March.

As of May, its workforce in Italy totalled 5,733 employees, according to the group's latest annual report.

(Reporting by Elvira Pollina, writing by Federica Urso, editing by Gavin Jones)