Malaysia's largest fixed-line phone company Telekom Malaysia will not lay off workers or cut salaries as the deepening economic crisis is unlikely to affect demand for communication products, a top official was quoted as saying on Saturday.

"That (job and salary cuts) has not come to our mind at all at this stage," local daily New Straits Times quoted Telekom Malaysia's chief operating officer Adnan Rofiee as saying.

"Maybe there'll be people who'll work from their homes instead of their offices, but as far as their telecom needs are concerned, they'll still be using our infrastructure and so, money will still flow in," he said.

A total of 15,000 Malaysian jobs were lost in January, mostly in the manufacturing sector, as wilting demand for the country's key technology exports hit manufacturers.

Malaysia's unemployment rate stood at 3.1 percent in the third quarter of 2008, with an estimated 10.8 million people being employed in the period, government data showed.

Most economists expect the jobless rate to rise above above 4 percent this year.