Alcatel-Lucent to cut 1,000 jobs; to reduce 5,000 contractors

PARIS/NEW DELHI: Telecom major Alcatel-Lucent will cut 1,000 managerial posts and remove 5,000 contractors as part of its costs-saving initiatives.

"The company expects to reduce the number of managers by approximately 1,000 and the number of contractors by approximately 5,000," it said in a statement today.

"It will also complete its existing restructuring initiatives as well as seek savings in real estate, support functions and discretionary spending".

The firm would initiate a set of strong actions designed to reduce its break-even point by one billion euro per year in both 2009 and 2010, according to the statement.

Further, Alcatel-Lucent would be consolidating its global R&D centres. "Other actions will be taken to have a more agile R&D, such as further simplifying the Carrier Product Group from 6 to 4 divisions," the statement added.

As part of its strategic transformation, the telecom major would be focusing on service providers and enterprises markets, among others.

"We want to stimulate a sustainable business model for the industry that will fuel innovation and the capital investment required to expand the overall web experience to more people and businesses," Alcatel-Lucent CEO Ben Verwaayen said.

For the full year 2009, the firm anticipates the market for telecommunications equipment and related deployment services to be down between 8 to 12 per cent at constant exchange rate.