Nokia to axe up to 14,000 jobs to cut costs

Finnish telecoms giant Nokia is to axe between 9,000 and 14,000 jobs by the end of 2026 to cut costs.

The announcement was made as the company reported a 20% drop in sales between July and September.

The company blamed slowing demand for 5G equipment in markets such as North America.

It currently has 86,000 employees around the world, and has axed thousands of jobs since 2015.

Nokia was once the biggest handset manufacturer in the world, but it failed to anticipate the popularity of internet-enabled touchscreen phones such as Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy and was knocked from its perch by rivals.

After selling its handset business to Microsoft, which the software giant later wrote off, Nokia concentrated on telecoms equipment.

In 2020, Nokia became a major beneficiary of Huawei being blocked from the UK’s 5G networks after striking a deal to become the largest equipment provider to BT.

But 5G equipment makers have been struggling as operators in the US and the EU cut spending.

Earlier this week, Swedish rival, Ericsson, also reported a fall in sales.

It said it expected the uncertainty impacting its mobile networks business to persist into next year.