Ericsson Slashes 3,000 Jobs in Sweden

STOCKHOLM—Sweden's Ericsson AB on Tuesday said it plans to lay off 3,000 employees in its home country in an effort to cut costs amid intensifying competition and a sluggish mobile-equipment market.

Ericsson said it intends to let go around 1,000 positions in production, 800 in research and development and 1,200 in other operations such as sales and administration, totaling a reduction of nearly one-fifth of its 16,000 workforce in Sweden.

Ericsson has been battling slowing demand for its cellphone towers and switches as it faces stiff competition from its Nordic rival Nokia Corp. and China's Huawei Technologies Co., while spending by mobile service providers on last-generation mobile networks, known as 4G, has dried up.

Instead, Ericsson is betting on the development of fifth-generation networks, or 5G, and software-based services such as the Internet of Things and cloud computing.

"Ericsson is going through a large transformation," said Jan Frykhammar, Ericsson's acting chief executive. "The measures are necessary to secure Ericsson's long-term competitiveness as well as technology and services leadership."

Write to Matthias Verbergt at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 04, 2016 05:05 ET (09:05 GMT)

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