Ericsson to cut 20,000 jobs

More telecoms gloom

Telecoms equipment maker Ericsson is to axe 20,000 jobs over the next two years after posting another poor quarter. Orders fell 40 per cent in the first three months of the year, resulting in a pre-tax loss of £363m. Its handset division did perform well, and broke even in the quarter. But its systems division, which builds mobile networks for telecoms operators, fared much worse. Ericsson is now speeding up its cost-cutting programme, under which 22,000 jobs went last year. Ten thousand staff will lose their jobs in 2002, with another 10,000 to go in 2003.