Finnish networking tech firm Nokia has announced it is entering employer-employee negotiations, and that it aims to cut up to 180 jobs in Finland this year.
The company said the redundancies would affect employees at facilities across the country, but mostly at Nokia's headquarters in Espoo. However, Nokia said the payroll cuts would not affect development of 5G technologies or its factory in Oulu.
Nokia's president of mobile networks, Tommi Uitto, said the company wants to safeguard its long-term competitiveness, adding that the company will support staff affected by the downsizing process.
The job cuts are part of the company's broader goals to reduce annual costs by 500 million euros, plans which were put into motion in 2018.
Uitto said the company has reduced earlier savings targets from 700 million to 500 million euros to invest in 5G technology development and digitalisation.
He noted that Nokia hired 370 employees in 2019. The company currently employs about 6,000 people in Finland.
Last week the company announced it had signed 63 commercial 5G contracts, noting the development positioned the firm as "a global leader in end-to-end 5G solutions."
Customers in those deals include AT&T, T-Mobile US, Korea Telecom and Vodafone Italy among others.