Nokia is reportedly planning to cut thousands of employees across the globe in an effort to trim costs following its recent merger with Alcatel-Lucent.
According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the reductions will include 1,300 jobs from the company’s Finnish offices in Espoo, Oulu and Tampere. The company currently has a total of 6,850 employees in Finland and 104,000 across the world, the report said.
An additional 400 positions are expected to be cut in France, but will be replaced by 500 research and development positions, the Wall Street Journal reported. Another 1,400 jobs will be trimmed from Nokia’s 4,800-strong workforce in Germany, the report said.
The total number of jobs being cut globally was not disclosed, but Nokia said the cuts will come “largely in areas where there are overlaps,” including research and development, regional and sales organizations and corporate functions. In an October 2015 memo, Nokia said it will particularly look to streamline products and services in the planned Mobile Networks business group.
Nokia said the headcount reductions will take place between now and 2018. The timeline for the cuts will vary by country, the company said.
Nokia on Wednesday said the reductions will help it reach its promise of delivering more than $1 billion (900 million euros) in synergies as a result of the merger. The company also said the cuts will help it adapt to “challenging market conditions” by shifting its resources to “future-oriented technologies” like 5G, the Cloud and the Internet of Things.
“These actions are designed to ensure that Nokia remains a strong industry leader,” Nokia President and CEO Rajeev Suri said in a statement. “When we announced the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent we made a commitment to deliver EUR 900 million in synergies – and that commitment has not changed. We also know that our actions will have real human consequences and, given this, we will proceed in a way that that is consistent with our company values and provide transition and other support to the impacted employees.”
In addition to the job cuts, Nokia said Wednesday it will also aim to achieve savings worldwide in real estate, services, procurement, supply chain and manufacturing.