Ericsson slashes 950 more jobs

The vendor has announced plans to cut 950 jobs in Gayle, outside of Stockholm, and Boras in southern Sweden.

The cuts are in addition to Ericsson’s existing cost-cutting program, FT.com reported. 

 

Incoming CEO Hans Vestberg has identified further cost-cutting opportunities while implementing an existing plan to secure savings worth SKr10 billion ($1.41 billion) by the middle of next year.

 

The job losses stem from the decision to shut down the company’s Gavle factory, which makes base stations for 3G networks.

 

The vendor claims that fewer staff were required to make its latest generation of products, which are under threat from lower-priced gear from Huawei and ZTE.

 

“We have to reduce the number of employees in production because the amount of labor required for our products is less and at the same time we are becoming more efficient,” the company said in a statement.

 

Vestberg told the Financial Times recently that Ericsson could grow faster than competitors in the coming years, though he declined to give a forecast for 2010.

 

Ericsson’s original cost-cutting program, detailed in January, involved slashing 5,000 jobs. Another initiative last year cut 4,000 jobs.