Ericsson to cut 8,500 jobs worldwide

Telecom equipment maker Ericsson said Friday it would slash 8,500 jobs worldwide, part of a cost-cutting programme as financial headwinds push operators to rein in spending.

Ericsson, which had a total of 105,000 employees at the end of 2022, last month posted disappointing full-year 2022 earnings, as operators slow spending on rolling the latest 5G networks due to the global economic slowdown and rising inflation.

The Swedish company said most of the layoffs would be implemented in the first half of 2023 and the rest in 2024, as it accelerated its $860 million cost saving plan announced at the end of 2022.

"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," spokeswoman Jenny Hedelin told AFP.

"It will, however, unfortunately also result in a need to address headcount. We believe a total of 8,500 positions will be affected", she said.

Ericsson said 1,400 of the job cuts were in Sweden, which had already been announced earlier this week.

For 2022, the group posted a 39 percent drop in net profit to 6.2 billion kronor (1.7 billion euros, $1.8 billion).