Vodafone, the biggest mobile operator in the world in terms of revenues, will shut down its navigation business Wayfinder, which will result in 95 employees from Romania, Sweden and UK losing their jobs, according to company information quoted by Reuters newswire. Vodafone had bought GPS navigation services provider Wayfinder in December 2008 for $30 million.

The mobile operator's decision was triggered by the shift in the GPS services market after the introduction of free services in the last six months. Both Google and Nokia have introduced such services lately.

In Romania, Wayfinder has an office in Cluj – Napoca. In 2008, the company was planning to reach 100 staff in its Cluj – Napoca office. Then, the company had 18 Romanian employees.

Following the acquisition by Vodafone, Tommy Ahlers became Wayfinder's CEO, replacing Magnus Nilsson, who had also been in charge of the Romanian operations.