Nortel to cut 1,300 jobs after net loss

Nortel NetworksCorp, North America’s largest maker of telephone equipment, posted its biggest net loss in seven years and announced plans to cut 1,300 jobs after customers scaled back budgets.

Asked if there would be layoffs in India, Nortel Asia spokesperson Matthew Wray told TOI that the company has not provided any geographical breakdown to the job reductions.

“In general, our policy has been to reduce jobs in higher cost parts of the world where we can, and to move resources closer to where our business opportunities lie,” Wray said, indicating that job loss in India, if any, would be limited.

India is a low cost destination and one of the company’s faster growing markets. In India, Nortel has about 1,000 employees (out of its total global strength of 32,000), and additionally has some 2,500 employees working for it in companies like Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, Sasken and Infosys.

The Toronto-based company’s third-quarter net loss amounted to $3.4bn. That included a $3.2bn expense to write down the value of part of its business and deferred tax assets.