T-Mobile USA, headquartered in Bellevue, today confirmed  layoffs at the company. The news precedes its expected merger with Dallas-based MetroPCS, in which T-Mobile will become a publicly listed company.

It also follows the layoff of about 100 employees earlier in the month. The Seattle Times reports that between 200 and 300 were laid off, predominately in the company’s operation group.

“T-Mobile announced a series of moves Tuesday that are part of our new business strategy designed to address consumer frustration with the unnecessary cost and complexity of wireless,” reported the company in a prepared statement. “As a result, we are making some operational changes to better align our business with our new strategy and position T-Mobile for growth.”

Though the statement did not specify how many Bellevue employees were affected, it claimed that the number was small compared to its overall size. Last year T-Mobile cut more than 4,200 jobs, many of them in call centers and 900 more nationally, later that spring. Protests in Bellevue cropped up following the announcements. T-Mobile’s original attempt to merge with AT&T fell through but concerns remain that any merger will involve further job loss.

This week the company launched its latest upgrade to network 4G LTE technology, of which some of the laid off employees were reportedly working on through the weekend.

T-Mobile last year employed about 4,800 people in its Bellevue headquarters and 36,000 nationally.