Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) will slash “hundreds” of jobs at it UK operations on Tuesday to reduce costs and protect earnings as the global slowdown drags on, according to Bloomberg, citing two undisclosed sources. In February, when Vodafone reported its latest earnings, CEO Vittorio Colao said the global telecoms group had made progress on its savings plan to cut costs by 1 billion pounds by March 2011, and that the retrenchment would include job losses. The UK has a much smaller earnings margin that Vodafone’s other European operations. Vodafone UK had an EBITDA margin of 23.2 percent in the six months ended Sept. compared to 44 percent in Germany and 44.9 percent in Italy.