Finnish telecoms company Nokia is making significant changes to save money.
They will cut between 9,000 and 14,000 jobs by the end of 2026.
This decision comes after they reported a 20% drop in sales between July and September.
They say this drop in sales is because there isn’t as much demand for 5G equipment in places like North America.
Currently, Nokia has 86,000 employees all over the world, and they have already cut many jobs since 2015.
They want to save between €800 million and €1.2 billion by 2026.
Nokia’s customers are spending less money because prices are going up, and interest rates are high.
Nokia’s CEO, Pekka Lundmark, says that new technologies like cloud computing and AI require a lot of money to make better networks.
But because it’s uncertain when the market will get better, they need to make changes now.
They plan to cut costs by €400 million in 2024 and €300 million in 2025.
Lundmark believes that despite the uncertainty, Nokia’s network business will get better in the current quarter.
Nokia hasn’t said where these job cuts will happen, and they haven’t mentioned if UK employees will be affected.
They say this decision was tough, but it’s necessary to deal with market uncertainty and protect their long-term success.
Nokia’s spokesperson said, “We have immensely talented people at Nokia and we will support everyone who is affected by the process.
We are now beginning the process of consultation on initial reductions.”
They will decide the timing and details of these job cuts based on market demand.
Nokia used to be the world’s biggest company for making mobile phones.
But they didn’t expect phones like the iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy to become so popular, and they lost their top spot.
They sold their phone business to Microsoft, but that didn’t work out. So, they turned their focus to telecom equipment.
They make software and hardware that helps people make phone calls and use the internet.
In 2020, they became the main supplier of equipment to BT after Huawei was blocked from the UK’s 5G networks.
However, 5G equipment companies are struggling because the US and EU are spending less money.
Nokia and their Swedish rival, Ericsson, are trying to make up for these losses by selling more to India, but 5G is slowing down there too.
Ericsson also reported lower sales recently.
An analyst named Kester Mann said the telecoms industry should be doing really well because everyone uses their services.
But because of different issues, it’s unclear what the future holds for these companies.
Tech companies, including telecoms, have been having a hard time because people and businesses are spending less money.
This has caused many people to lose their jobs in the past two years.
Companies like Meta (which owns Facebook and Instagram), Amazon, and X (formerly Twitter) have all laid off workers.
However, there is still a need for tech workers.
According to Zip Recruiter, 80% of big tech employees who lost their jobs found new ones within three months.
Authors Upset As Tech Giants Use Their Books For AI Training Without Permission
