Siemens 'to cut 5,000 jobs'

FRANKFURT, Germany -- Siemens, Europe's largest electronics and engineering company, is considering cutting as many as 5,000 more jobs, at its telecom and mobile phone businesses, according to reports.

"Further capacity adjustments are being considered which could lead to job cuts, though these are very early considerations,'' Siemens told Reuters. "When and how many is not yet clear. There have been no decisions.''

Siemens, like its rivals, has been forced to slash jobs as demand for telecom equipment to drive fixed and mobile phone communications has slumped. To date, the company has cut more than 35,000 jobs.

According to the Financial Times Deutschland. Siemens plans to cut a further 4,000 jobs at its ICN fixed line business on top of the 16,000 already announced.

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Wolfgang Muller, a spokesman for the union IG Metall Bayern, told the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that at least 4,000 jobs could go at the fixed-line business by the end of its 2002 financial year in September.

Muller also said another 1,000 jobs could go at the mobile networks and handset unit.

Both Siemens telecom units were loss-making in the third quarter as telecom operators like WorldCom and Global Crossing filed for bankruptcy protection, and others like BT Group, Deutsche Telekom and KPN reined in spending.

The company warned last month fourth-quarter earnings would come under pressure mainly due to a slump in the telecoms sector. Network sales fell 30.6 percent to 2.19 billion euros in the third quarter from 3.16 billion a year earlier, notching up a loss of 84 million euros. A year earlier, the unit had a loss of 563 million euros.

Handset sales were down 1.5 percent to 2.51 billion euros from 2.54 billion a year earlier. The unit posted a loss of 9 million euros, compared with a 511 million loss in the third quarter of 2001. (Full Story)

Siemens' stock, which has fallen more than 40 percent this year, slipped 1.9 percent to 46.95 euros in midmorning Frankfurt trading on Friday.