Ericsson to slash 1,550 jobs in Sweden

Infrastructure vendor Ericsson is set to cut 1,550 jobs in its native Sweden. The announcement follows the firm’s third quarter earnings announcement, in which it saw a staggering 42 per cent year on year reduction in net income.

The vendor said that the cuts are aimed to “reduce costs, drive commercial excellence and operational effectiveness”. They will be made across all job areas, including sales, general and administration, research and development, supply and service delivery.

Hans Vestberg, president and CEO, said the shortfall was due to slowing sales in networks, while services were still holding up.

“It is naturally a difficult message for our employees in Sweden,” said Tomas Qvist, head of Ericsson’s human resources in Sweden. “We must ensure that we can continue to execute on our strategy to maintain our market leadership, invest in R&D and meet our customers’ needs. To secure this we need to focus on reducing cost, driving commercial excellence and operational effectiveness. This will enable us to secure our future competitiveness.

Ericsson currently has 17,768 employees in Sweden. It saw its net income fall from SEK3.8bn in 3Q11 ($568m) to SEK2.2bn in 3Q12. Sales also decreased two per cent year on year.