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Nokia follows Ericsson in announcing major job cuts
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The vendor reported net income that fell to $151.3 million for Q3
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The job cuts should shave $1.3 billion off its top line
A global operator sales fall represents a Scandinavian winter for telco vendors Nokia and Ericsson.
Nokia announced this morning that it is slashing 14,000 jobs, around 16% of its staff, over the next three years, as it hits the “reset” button. The vendor reported a 20% dive in sales for the third quarter on a net income that fell to $151.3 million.
Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark said in a video that Nokia needed to reduce its cost base “in the face of a challenging market environment.” to shore up profits. The Finish vendor, which currently employs 86,000 people, said the cuts would save it $1.3 billion.
Nokia is not the only vendor that is hurting this fall. Ericsson announced a $2.84 billion loss this week, mainly blaming a North American drop in sales. In February, Ericsson announced job cuts that totaled up to 8,500 people.
Both vendors are suffering from macroeconomic pressure as network sales drop in North America and appear weaker around much of the world. Neither vendor is selling into Russia either, which is trying to update its systems to 5G now, because of the Ukraine war.
Despite U.S. and European restrictions on domestic operators using Huawei gear, the Chinese vendor still handily beat out other vendors in the cellular infrastructure game. Dell’Oro Group said in September that Huawei had a market share of 28.6% for the first half of 2023.
Nokia had a share of 15.3%, while Ericsson represented 12.5% of the market in the 1H23, Dell'Oro. ZTE followed that with a 10.4% share. Cisco was the American vendor to even be represented in the top five with a 6.2% share.
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