Australian Nokia-Siemens jobs head offshore

An unspecified number of staff at Nokia Siemens Networking (NSN) Australian operations have been made redundant as part of a global centralisation exercise.

NSN spokesperson Phil Ore told ZDNet.com.au today that less than 15 staff were affected by the decision; however, he would not clarify where within the company the cuts had been made.

"The impact is on a small number of roles within Australia," he said. "I emphasise it is fewer than 15 jobs and that this is a small change in the operational mode. Our overall numbers are not being reduced."

Ore said the cuts were the result of a global push to centralise work under the company's global networks operations centres, which provide outsourced network operations and management. He stressed that it was not driven by a local restructuring agenda.

NSN's key global networks operations centres are located in Portugal and India.

The NSN joint venture was established in 2007 and at the time it had planned to cut 6,000 to 9,000 staff from its 60,000 strong global workforce over the next four years. The companies expected to generate cost savings of €1.5 billion by 2010.