Nokia Siemens Networks cutting 1,200 jobs in Finland

Company focusing on wireless broadband

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Nokia Siemens Networks announced on Tuesday that it would cut over 4,000 jobs in Finland and Germany. Up to 1,200 jobs could go in Finland, where the company employs 6,900.
      The company is eliminating 700 jobs in Espoo, 350 in Tampere, and 150 in Oulu. In Oulu a factory that manufactures base stations has been excluded from the co-determination talks.
      NSN has struggled with profitability since it was set up in 2007.
     
In November NSN announced plans to reduce 17,000 jobs worldwide, with the aim of cutting operating and production costs by EUR 1 billion by the end of next year.
      The action is a change in strategy aimed at boosting competitiveness.
      The company, which has long been in economic difficulties, is concentrating on network equipment and services for wireless broadband, and is giving up on fixed network equipment.
     
Competition in the field is increasingly intense.
      “The poor economic situation has made telecommunications operators hesitant about making new investments”, says Pekka Soini, head of Finnish business operations at Nokia Siemens Networks.
     
In Finland NSN concentrates largely on product development in wireless broadband, which is why the downsizing of staff in Finland has been less severe than in other countries.
      About a third of the 1,000 NSN employees in Tampere are to be let go. Jari Nummikoski, the shop steward of office workers at the NSN Tampere location said that the severity of the job cuts came as a surprise.
     
Nummikoski said that he hopes that the company will make efforts to help the staff that is being cut back find new work.
      Pekka Soini said that the company would discuss ways to support those employees who are being terminated. He also said that the possibilities of helping former staff set up their own businesses, go into retraining, or to find new work would be discussed.
     


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Nokia Siemens Networks CEO predicts decline in number of networks companies (7.1.2011)

Links:
  Nokia Siemens Networks to cut 17,000 jobs worldwide; most of the reductions will take place outside of Finland (24.11.2011)

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