Mobile Reviews

HELSINKI: Telecom gear vendor Nokia Siemens Networks said on Tuesday it would slash around 1,820 jobs, mostly in Finland and Germany, as the last part of its 2-billion-euro ($2.58 billion) cost cut programme.

The news comes one day after Canada’s Nortel said it would slash 1,300 jobs as vendors try to cope with fierce competition for new business, subdued demand and falling prices.

“Continued challenging telecommunications market conditions have shown the need for further reductions,” Nokia Siemens said in a statement. Nokia Siemens said it aims to cut up to 750 jobs in Finland and close one of its sites employing 500 staff in Munich.

It said it had decided to sell a manufacturing site in Durach, Germany, which employs some 500 employees, to the plant’s current management. It said it would also cut some 50 jobs in Egypt and 20 in the United States.

Nokia Siemens Networks, a 50-50 joint venture of the world’s top cellphone maker Nokia, and German conglomerate Siemens, started operations in April 2007 and shortly after launched a large lay-off programme.

The programme, which includes some 9,000 job cuts in total, is aimed to help boost its operating profit margin to 10 percent by the end of 2009. NSN had 60,200 staff at end-September.

Its underlying operating profit margin fell to 5.1 percent in the third quarter from 6.7 percent in the previous three month period.Read the economic times