Ericsson’s headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. Image: Jari J/Shutterstock
For the second time in less than a year, Swedish telecoms manufacturer Ericsson has announced plans to cut 130 jobs in its Irish operations.
As part of a global restructuring programme in the face of greater challenges on the market, Ericsson is set to cut up to 130 jobs across its Irish operation.
It is believed that the majority of these cuts will occur in its Dublin operation but the company hopes to redeploy any staff where possible.
In a statement, Ericsson said: “This is to ensure a competitive business model aimed at securing long-term growth and linked to the technology needs of our customers.”
It continued: “The company remains committed to R&D in Ireland and will continue to employ over 1,200 people in our Athlone and Dublin campuses.
“Ericsson regrets the impact of [the] announcement on our employees and will be providing a comprehensive support programme to affected employees.”
The company now hopes to seek voluntary redundancies starting from now for the next two weeks.
The news comes only a few months after Ericsson revealed that it was looking to cut 59 jobs at its Dublin office for similar cost-cutting reasons.
Last August, the Swedish firm admitted that it needed to slash 25,000 jobs globally out of a total of more than 100,000 as it struggles to be profitable in the current global market for mobile equipment.
Earlier this year, the company stunned investors with news that it had a Q1 2017 operating loss of $1.4bn, pushing it deeper into debt. Later, it also posted losses larger than expected for Q2 2017.
Analysts have put the losses down to Ericsson’s struggle to remain competitive with its neighbouring rivals Nokia and the booming Chinese market, in particular Huawei.
Ericsson’s headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. Image: Jari J/Shutterstock
