French telecoms equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent announced its intention on Thursday to cut 5,000 jobs worldwide as part of a plan to cut costs by 1.25 billion euros (1.51 billion dollars) by the end of 2013.
Alcatel made the announcement in releasing its second-quarter results, which showed net losses of 254 million euros.
Turnover fell 7.1 per cent year-on-year to 3.5 billion euros, while adjusted operating income fell from 87 million euros a year ago to a loss of 31 million euros.
Alcatel chief executive Ben Verwaayen said these “times demand firm actions.” That included “shrinking our employee base and exiting certain non-profitable contracts.” Mr Verwaayen has been trying to reduce Alcatel’s costs for years in order to better compete against China’s Huawei Technologies and Sweden’s Ericsson.
In 2011, the company posted a profit for the first time in six years.
Alcatel employs 78,000 people around the world.
