(Jan 15): Telecommunications equipment maker Ericsson AB plans to cut about 1,600 jobs in its home country of Sweden as part of a broader plan to reduce operational costs.
The company has notified Sweden’s labour agency and entered negotiations with unions, Ericsson said in a statement on Thursday.
Further “efficiency measures” will take place across the group but won’t be announced separately, a spokesperson said.
Stockholm-based Ericsson has been working to trim costs and improve margins in a difficult telecommunications-equipment market. The company, along with its Nordic competitor Nokia Oyj, has struggled with weak demand for years as anticipated carrier spending on 5G technology failed to materialise.
Ericsson has about 12,600 employees in Sweden, the spokesperson said, meaning the cuts impact about 13% of its workers in the country. It employes about 90,000 people globally.
It more than doubled its third-quarter profits to 15.8 billion Swedish kronor (US$1.67 billion or $2.1 billion) last year after divesting its call-routing business Iconectiv.
See also: HSBC on course for £300b valuation, top executive says
In 2023, the company announced a global plan to cut 8,500 jobs, equivalent to 8% of its workforce. Cuts have continued since then, with the company axing hundreds of staff in Spain and Canada last year.
Shares in Ericsson rose slightly in Stockholm on Thursday morning. The company is due to report fourth-quarter results on Jan 23.
Uploaded by Magessan Varatharaja
