Nokia to cut thousands of jobs following Alcatel deal

 

HELSINKI/PARIS: Telecom network equipment maker Nokia is planning to cut thousands of jobs globally, including 1,400 in Germany and 1,300 in its native Finland, as part of a cost-cutting programme following the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent earlier this year.

In France, Nokia said on Wednesday it will cut only 400 jobs, but will also create 500 posts in research and development, in line with a promise to the French government last year when it was negotiating the Alcatel deal.

"The pledges made by Nokia when it bought Alcatel-Lucent have been kept," said Frédéric Aussedat, a representative of the CFE-CGC union in France. 

Nokia declined to give a total figure for global job cuts. 

The company employs about 6,850 people in Finland, 4,800 in Germany, 4,200 in France and around 104,000 around the world. 

"This (1,300) is a terrible figure, we have rather difficult employment situation in the sector to begin with," Pertti Porokari, chairman of the Union of Professional Engineers in Finland, said.