CORRECTED-UPDATE 2-UK's Virgin Media O2 to lay off up to 2,000 employees by year end (July 24)

(Corrects paragraph 4 in July 24 story to show BT will cut the jobs by 2030, and had not already cut jobs in May)

July 24 (Reuters) - British mobile operator Virgin Media O2 said on Monday it was planning to lay off up to 2,000 employees by the end of this year.

Redundancy notices were issued to some staff on Monday night, the Telegraph reported.

The company is a joint venture between the US-listed Liberty Global and Spain's Telefonica.

Its rival BT Group, Britain's biggest broadband and mobile provider, had said in May that it would cut up to 55,000 roles, or more than 40% of its workforce, by 2030.

Liberty Global also holds 5% in Vodafone, which also plans to slash 11,000 jobs globally over three years as it forecast a 1.5 billion euro ($1.66 billion) drop in annual year's free cash flow.

Earlier this month, the country's communications regulator Ofcom opened a probe, following complaints from users that the mobile operator was making it tough to cancel services. ($1 = 0.9041 euros) (Reporting by Urvi Dugar and Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru)