Nokia is cutting up to 10,000 jobs

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Nokia boss Lundmark: Radical downsizing

Photo: Markku Ulander / dpa / Lehtikuva

The Finnish network equipment supplier Nokia plans to cut up to 10,000 of the total of around 90,000 jobs in the next two years.

The aim is to have enough money to invest in research and development in the race for the top position in 5G technology, Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark justified the decision.

Lundmark had only assumed the top position eight months ago.

However, the financial effects are only likely to materialize in the long term: Nokia plans to spend 600 to 700 million euros on the restructuring, compared with savings of 600 million euros by the end of 2023.

Nokia is aiming for technology leadership in its four divisions, said Lundmark.

Therefore, the group must invest in product quality and competitiveness.

That makes cost reductions inevitable.

After taking over French rival Alcatel-Lucent five years ago, the former rubber boot manufacturer and mobile phone maker had cut thousands of jobs.

Falling behind Ericsson

According to a Nokia spokesman, most countries around the world are likely to be affected by the downsizing, with the exception of France, where more than a thousand jobs were lost last year.

According to another spokesman, around 360 of the total of 2,900 employees are affected in Germany.

There should be no site closings.

The largest locations in Germany include Munich, Stuttgart, Ulm and Nuremberg.

Telecommunications companies around the world are pushing ahead with the development of networks for the new 5G mobile communications standard, which lays the foundation for technologies such as virtual reality and autonomous driving, as well as for campus networks for Industry 4.0.

Nokia warned in early February of a challenging year with losses in market share and falling prices.

Most recently, the Swedish competitor Ericsson in particular benefited from the problems of the Chinese market leader Huawei and outperformed Nokia in important 5G orders, especially in China.

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