Alcatel cuts thousands more jobs

Alcatel has added to the general gloom surrounding the telecoms sector by announcing a further 10,000 job cuts over the coming year.

The French telecoms equipment maker said it would reduce its "headcount to around 60,000 employees by the end of 2003."

It had said just two months ago that it would cut its workforce to 70,000 by the end of next year.

At the end of December 2001, the company employed 99,000 people. The latest round of cuts means that a toal of 39,000 people will have lost their jobs there by the end of 2003.

It has also issued a profit warning, saying that it expects revenue in the second half of the year to be 15 per cent down on the first half.

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