Finnish telecommunications equipment group Nokia on Thursday said it will cut up to 14 000 jobs as part of a new cost-savings plan after third-quarter sales dropped 20% due to slowing sales of 5G equipment in markets such as North America.

The company is targeting between €800-million and €1.2-billion in cost savings by 2026 as it seeks to be on track to deliver its long-term comparable operating margin plan of at least 14% by 2026.

The programme is expected to lead to a 72 000- to 77 000-employee organisation compared to the 86 000 employees Nokia has today, the company said in a statement.

“Nokia expects to act quickly on the programme with at least €400-million of in-year savings in 2024 and a further €300-million in 2025,” the company said.

Comparable net sales fell to €4.98-billion from €6.24-billion last year, missing the estimated €5.67-billion, according to a LSEG poll.

“While our third quarter net sales were impacted by the ongoing uncertainty, we expect to see a more normal seasonal improvement in our network businesses in the fourth quarter,” CEO Pekka Lundmark said. — Supantha Mukherjee, (c) 2023 Reuters