Nokia to cut jobs in focus on 5G
Nokia announced on Thursday it was launching a round of global job cuts as it gears up for fifth-generation networks. No specific number has been put on the job losses, but Nokia said they will be part of a new plan to save $799 million a year by the end of 2020, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
In addition, Nokia said it will invest in digitalization to help productivity, prioritize research-and-development programs, find software efficiencies and further reduce real estate and other overhead costs.
The company on Thursday posted a third-quarter net profit that beat forecasts.
Sales in its key networks business reversed a negative trend and started to grow amid 5G order momentum.
Nokia saw growth across all five of its networks business groups and improved profitability. However, margins continued to come under pressure from pricing.
The operating margin in Nokia 's networks business fell to 5.0% from 6.9%.
Nokia said commercial 5G deployments are still expected to start near the end of the year.
North American operators are accelerating plans in the fourth quarter.
Nokia's operating profit in the third quarter fell 27 percent from a year ago to 487 million euros broadly in line with analysts' mean forecast in a Reuters poll of 492 million euros.
More than half of the earnings were generated by Nokia's highly profitable patent busines