20/07/2001

NORTEL ANNOUNCE SECOND-QUARTER LOSSES

NORTEL has announced that it will implement further job cuts, after revealing losses of over $19 billion for the second quarter.

While the drop was in line with recent profit warnings, the Canadian company have revealed that a further 7,000 jobs will be cut over the next eight weeks, blaming the recent downturn in the industry as prompting the move.

While Nortel Chief Executive John Roth described the results as ‘disappointing’ he felt that the company were currently taking “the right steps” to strengthen Nortel Networks position, given the current financial climate.

A reduced demand for high-tech and telecommunications products and services has led many companies in the sector to implement restructuring strategies.

However, mobile phone company Ericsson has provided some light at the end of the tunnel despite unveiling considerable losses for the three-month period. Analysts welcomed the figures, indicating pre-tax losses of 20 billion Swedish kronor ($1.88bn) for the April-to-June quarter, initially fearing worse news in the wake of Nortel’s performance.

Company president Kurt Hellström said that despite current predictions of little to no growth in the mobile systems market, he felt that it would “only a matter of time” before the sector picked up once more as additional network capacity would be required to support the continuing subscriber growth and increasing voice traffic. (CL)

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