Now it's NSN's turn to slash its workforce

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Now it's NSN's turn to slash its workforce

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 12 November, 2008

READ MORE: Nokia Siemens Networks

Hard on the heels of Nortel's announcements of massive job cuts, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) said it would cut a further 1,820 from its workforce as it reaches the final stages of a €2bn cost reduction programme, which has been underway since the venture was formed in April 2007.

Although, like its rivals, NSN is gearing up for a flat or reduced market for mobile infrastructure in 2009, it stressed that these cuts were part of an efficiency plan that had not been radically changed in the face of downturn. It has set itself ambitious targets to overtake Ericsson in the RAN equipment market within about three years.

The latest cuts focus on Finland and Germany, the company's main bases. About 750 staff will go in Finland and NSN will close its German Hofmannstrasse site, which employs 500. The company also announced an agreement for its manufacturing site in Durach, Germany, to acquired by its management, which will involve the transfer of a further 500 people.

After these moves, NSN will have around 7,000 employees in Finland (from an initial based of 9,200) and 10,000 in Germany (down from 13,000). 50 employees in Egypt will also lose their jobs due to closure of a small manufacturing plant, as well as 20 staff in the US. To date, the venture has cut more than 6,000 from its original 60,000-strong workforce and believes the final total will be close to 9,000, or 15% of the workforce as it stood in April 2007.

"We can then start to put this chapter of our history behind us and focus on creating a world class company," said NSN CEO Simon Beresford-Wylie, though he remained tightlipped on his projections for the infrastructure market in general.

In its third quarter, NSN reported an operating loss of €1m on revenue of €3.5bn, and co-parent Nokia said it expects the telecoms equipment market to be flat in 2008 compared with last year.