The full extent of Swedish kit vendor Ericsson’s cost-cutting haas been revealed, with a total of 8,500 roles to be made redundant globally.

At the start of this week the company confirmed 1,400 jobs would be cut in Sweden. It seemed safe to assume the cost-cutting wouldn’t stop there but, for some reason, the full extent of it took several days to emerge. Once more Reuters was the first to report on it but Telecoms.com received the following emailed statement directly from Ericsson

As announced previously and during the Capital Markets Day on December 15, Ericsson has announced acceleration of structural cost reductions efforts in the whole company at a run-rate of SEK 9 b. by end 2023 of which 70% in cost of goods sold and 30% in SG&A.

We see potential to simplify and become more efficient across the company, especially in structural costs. But we are also working on our service delivery, supply, real estate and IT.  We have already started to implement and accelerate various initiatives to help us reach this target.

It will, however, unfortunately also result in a need to address headcount. We believe a total of 8500 positions will be affected. The main part will be during H1 2023 but it also includes 2024. The way headcount reductions will be managed will differ depending on local country practice. 

Our aim is to manage the process in every country with fairness, respect, professionalism and in line with local labour legislation. Any impact to employees will be first communicated to them.

We expect to start seeing the effect of our SEK 9 b. cost savings activities from the second quarter of 2023. 

We have confirmed that the 8,500 number includes Sweden and, as Light Reading reports, amounts to around 8% of the total headcount. While the public communication of these job cuts seems a little haphazard, Ericsson will have been keen to get it out of the way before MWC. Its presence last year was overshadowed by news of historical corrupt activities in Iraq but this is less dramatic, especially given the broader macroeconomic context.

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