Nokia Alcatel-Lucent Layoffs 2020: Job Cuts Amid 5G Network Transition

Nokia Networks layoffs will impact roughly 1,200 jobs at the company's Alcatel-Lucent business, Reuters reports. The job cuts involve employees in France.

Nokia acquired Alcatel-Lucent for about $16 billion in 2016, and the acquired business is now part of the Nokia Networks organization. That organization competes against Ericsson and Huawei, selling telecom and mobile equipment to service providers worldwide. The competition increasingly involves 5G wireless network projects and deployments.

Amid the 5G market hype, Nokia has struggled to generate growth in its traditional telecom equipment business. In October 2019, the company slashed its 2019 and 2020 profit outlook and halted dividend payouts, saying profits would come under pressure as the company increased investments in 5G technology, Reuters notes.

Technology Industry Layoffs: Complete Job Cut List

Nokia: Selling Assets?

More recently, Nokia has been mulling potential asset sales or mergers, according to a February 2020 report. Potential suitors could include Ericsson and Samsung, the report suggested.

Some pundits suggested that Cisco Systems may be interested in Nokia's business -- but that seems highly unlikely to ChannelE2E. Indeed, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins prefers to acquire high-growth software and cloud businesses with monthly recurring revenue (MRR) business models.