Nokia to cut up to 10,000 jobs by 2023

HELSINKI: Finnish telecoms equipment maker Nokia said Tuesday it will slash up to 11 percent of its workforce within two years as it launches a “huge” cost-cutting drive and focuses on a few key areas in the face of tough competition over super-fast 5G networks.

Announcing a 600-million-euro ($715-million) cost-cutting programme, Nokia said it expects to become “an 80,000-85,000 employee organisation, over an 18-24-month period, instead of the approximately 90,000 employees Nokia has today.”

Much of the savings are to be re-invested into research and development (R&D), the firm said, especially in Nokia’s mobile networks and cloud operations, after new chief executive Pekka Lundmark pledged last year to “invest whatever it takes to win at 5G.”