Nokia plans to cut nearly 600 jobs in France

PARIS: Finnish telecoms giant Nokia said Thursday it planned to cut around 600 jobs in France as it seeks to make cost-savings and refocus its loss-making businesses.

The group said it planned to reduce its headcount in France by 597, a little over 10% of its total workforce in the country, with French trade unions calling the move "unacceptable."

Nokia, which no longer makes handsets having sold that business to Microsoft, bought French-American telecoms equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent in 2015 in a deal that was expected to lead to savings.

The cuts in France will be focused on administrative and support services and will not effect research and development as it refocuses on high-speed 5G telecom networks, cybersecurity and internet-linked appliances, the group said.

Nokia is aiming to make 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion) in total cost savings by the end of 2018 following net losses of 766 million euros last year.