Nokia Plans Further European Job Cuts

Mike Moore,
Employment, Jobs © Luna Vandoorne Shutterstock 2012

But believes successful Indian plant has the potential to build 5G technology

Nokia’s continued evolution took another turn today with the news that it plans significant job cuts at one of its major European facilities.

The company confirmed it would be cutting up to 70 jobs from its Technologies unit in Finland as part of its changing future strategies.

“Nokia Technologies has revised its long-term strategy and will consequently reshape organisation. As part of this, talks have been initiated with the staff,” spokeswoman Riitta Mard said.

The unit, which also covers patents and brand-licensing business, employs 650 worker s globally and about 400 in Finland.

Nokia logo networks © 360b ShutterstockGlobal

However, there was better news for some of Nokia’s Asian workers, as the company has indicated that its network equipment factory at Chennai will increasingly play a bigger role in its future growth by becoming a centre for 5G research and development.

The factory, which opened in 2008 and makes components such as base stations, system, modules and filters for mobile communication, is being transformed into a ‘digital factory’ in a bid to be more efficient and  r seize the future opportunity in the manufacture of 5G.

“We expect the commercial implementation of 5G during the Winter Olympics in South Korea in 2018,” Sandeep Girotra, head of India market, Nokia Networks, said during an event that marked the production of the two millionth component at the factory.

“Our Chennai facility is a world-class factory similar to our global factories and make cost-efficient deliveries possible to operators around the globe including the US and Europe,” said Kal Kirschenhofer, vice president – manufacturing operations, Nokia Networks, Germany.

“This will improve traceability and transparency in our process. We will develop Chennai unit as one of our factories of future”.

Nokia recently announced the £11.3bn takeover of French networking firm Alcatel-Lucent, showing it still aims to remain a major player in the networking industry.

The new company will be known as ‘Nokia Corporation’, with Alcatel-Lucent shareholders owning a third of the company, with the deal set to go through early in 2016.

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