With unemployment rates still at unsettling high rates, news has broken that communications provider XO Communications (News - Alert) may be firing up to 400 employees. When asked about possible job cuts, XO Spokesman Chad Couser stated he had “no comment."

As XO is a private company, chances are if these layoffs are scheduled to take place in the near future, plans will be kept mum.

Things haven’t been looking good these days for the communications provider as the company announced in August that it had signed a merger agreement that in essence would allow for the company to be almost solely owned by billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who already dominated nearly 92 percent of the combined voting power of the company’s shares of capital stock, a recent Channel Partners piece alleged.

When times get tough in business and costs need to be lowered, usually employees tend to be the first ones on the chopping block and for six months ending June 30, 2011, XO’s selling, general and administrative expenses decreased by $20.2 million when compared to the same period in the prior year. XO stated the reduced earnings were due to “changes in employee benefit programs and a decline in payroll and related expenses due to headcount reductions."

Additionally, the communications provider has also been busy rearranging its management staff. In September, Laura Thomas was selected as interim CEO, a position that until April Carl J. Grivner held for eight years.

Another option in the search for a communications provider, Powernet Global offers high reliability in all of the services it provides including LRN Routing, TDM or SIP Interconnect, call center termination, quality routing that delivers CLI on all calls when available, T.38 faxing and coverage areas located throughout the U.S. and Canada.