PARIS (FRANCE) – Finland’s Nokia Oyj plans to go ahead with 1,233 job cuts at its French subsidiary Alcatel-Lucent International, which is equivalent to a third of the local workforce, the group said on Monday.
Nokia, which competes with Ericsson and Huawei for work on lucrative 5G networks, said in a statement the staff cut was needed because of “very important” pressures on costs in the market.
The announcement of job cuts is likely to have political repercussions in France, as Nokia bought the parent company of Alcatel-Lucent International five years ago on the condition it would retain jobs and expand its research and development teams in the country.
A spokeswoman said Nokia became totally free of such commitments this month.
The job cuts will particularly affect R&D functions, the company said.
“Nokia will continue to be a major employer in France with a strong foothold in R&D, sales and services, which will enable us to develop and execute our customers’ projects efficiently,” said Thierry Boisnon, president of Nokia in France.
Nokia employs 5,138 people in France, out of whom 3,640 work for Alcatel-Lucent International.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field