Ericsson to Cut 1,500 Jobs

Ericsson is a name that many of you may not be familiar with, unless you spend a lot of time with technology. For those of you who are not that technologically inclined lets begin the day by talking about what the company does for a living, then when can talk about the job cuts that the company is making, “Ericsson is the world’s leading provider of communications technology and services. We are enabling the Networked Society with efficient real-time solutions that allow us all to study, work and live our lives more freely, in sustainable societies around the world. Our offering comprises services, software and infrastructure within Information and Communications Technology for telecom operators and other industries. Today more than 40 percent of the world’s mobile traffic goes through Ericsson networks and we support customers’ networks servicing more than 2,5 billion subscribers. We operate in 180 countries and employ more than 100,000 people.”

Sadly the company is getting ready to cut back on about 1,550 workers in a move that is designed to make the company a lot leaner and hopefully more profitable. The job cuts, which are slated to come mostly to the Networks unit of the company have not been given a firm deadline as of yet, or discussed where exactly the layoffs will come in terms of geography.

Instead in its most recent release the company chose to highlight a new deal they had made that will help them to make more profits in the wireless arena, “Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) today announced that it has become the exclusive distributor of BandRich LTE data devices in North America to Ericsson’s operator customers. The agreement covers all BandRich products, including mobile broadband routers, dongles, personal hotspots and outdoor CPEs.  The new personal router offers a range of LTE band combinations in an innovative design style, as well as leading battery performance with more than six hours of continuous operation. The outdoor CPE has two high-gain embedded antennas, which allows stronger LTE coverage and performance in rural settings.” Sadly this deal does not seem to be saving any of the jobs that the company is set to get rid of.

This is, of course, not the first time that the company has turned to layoffs in order to cut back on its expenses and keep the bottom line where they want it to be. For those of you who missed out on our earlier coverage  here is a look at those earlier, and still sizable job cuts, “S T-Ericsson sent out layoff notices this week to 1,700 of its workers. The job cuts, which are part of a restructuring effort by the company to trim its bottom line will also require a significant number of workers to move over to its parent company, STMicroelectronics NV, where the company will consolidate its chip making. The company expects that these two moves, in combination will save them about $320 million by the end of next year.”

For the time being workers will have to wait and see who gets cut and who gets to keep their job.