Telecom gear maker Nokia Siemens Networks will cut around 1,820 jobs, mostly in Finland and Germany, as the last phase of a planned 2 billion euro ($2.58 billion) cost-cutting programme.

Nokia Siemens said it will now start the process of sharing preliminary plans with employees and employee representatives in Finland and Germany. Actual reductions will occur only after the completion of appropriate consultation processes and in accordance with local legal practices, it added.

The announcement comes a day after Canada's Nortel said it would axe 1,300 jobs amidst fierce market competition, subdued demand and falling prices.

Nokia Siemens Networks, the 50:50 joint venture between Finland's Nokia and Germany-based Siemens, had proposed to cut around 10-15 per cent of its workforce at the time of its merger, in June 2006.

The company last year confirmed that the job cuts were expected to be within range, at approximately 9,000 and has so far achieved an adjustment/cut of more than 6,000 employees.

Nokia Siemens said the proposed merger-related adjustments stem from changes to the product portfolio, site optimisation, streamlining of various functions, strategic, long-term R&D and workforce balancing and other factors designed to build a competitive Nokia Siemens Networks.

''We have now completed the preliminary planning necessary to identify the specific areas where we have additional synergy-related reduction needs,'' said Bosco Novak, head of human resources at Nokia Siemens Networks.
 
In May 2007, Nokia Siemens Networks announced that it expected a reduction of 1,500-1,700 employees in Finland, not including the transfer of employees to partners. The company has reduced 500 jobs through active restructuring process, mostly through the use of voluntary severance packages.

While headcount in Finland has been further reduced through natural attrition and the transfer of employees to partners, Nokia Siemens is now proposing a maximum reduction in the range of 750 employees in Finland, bringing the planned total reductions through active restructuring to less than 1,300.

At the completion of the restructuring activities, Nokia Siemens Networks expects to have in the range of 7,000 employees in Finland, from an initial base of approximately 9,200.

In Germany, Nokia Siemens Networks announced in May 2007 that it was targeting active reductions in the range of 2,800-2,900 and reached agreement with employee representatives on an initial reduction of 2,300, which was completed on 28 May 2008.
 
The company is now planning to close down its Munich Hofmannstrasse site. This will affect approximately 500 employees and is planned to be completed by the end of October 2009.

This will not affect the company's information technology division at Tölzer Strasse in Munich as that facility is subject to a long-planned separation from the Hofmannstrasse site.
 
Nokia Siemens also announced the hiving off of its manufacturing site in Durach, Germany in a management buy-out, led by the current leadership of the facility.

That would take care of another 500 jobs in Germany. At the completion of the planned headcount restructuring and employee transfer activities, Nokia Siemens Networks expects to have in the range of 10,000 employees in Germany, from an initial base of approximately 13,000.
 
In addition to Finland and Germany, the company also plans to reduce around 50 jobs in Egypt, where it plans to close a small manufacturing facility. It will also cut around 20 jobs in the United States where it is closing down a small site by next year.

Nokia Siemens also plans limited reductions in almost all other regions, consistent with appropriate consultation processes and in accordance with local legal practices, the company added.

Nokia Siemens, based in Espoo, Finland, has operations in 150 countries.