Siemens Plans Layoffs in Telecom Unit

Siemens plans to cut 3,800 jobs at its Siemens Enterprise Communications (SEN) subsidiary, including 2,000 jobs in Germany, the company announced Tuesday.

The layoffs are part of an effort to transform SEN into a telecom software and solutions provider from a telecom equipment unit, the company said.

Western telecom equipment makers have come under pressure as Asian manufacturers have ramped up production, driving down prices and profit margins in some product categories.

In addition to job cuts, SEN plans to sell its manufacturing operations, with 3,000 employees worldwide and nearly 1,200 employees in Germany. The SEN plant in Leipzig, Germany, with about 530 employees, and the telecommunications cable business, with about 60 employees, will be sold or dedicated to a partner's products, the company said. SEN is also looking for a partner with an IT partner for about 570 employees involved in direct sales to customers of small and medium-sized telecom systems, it said.

SEN intends to sell or find partners for facilities in Greece and Brazil, which have 270 and 470 employees, respectively. The company said it cannot rule out closing those facilities.

Call centers in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, which employ about 1,100 people, are slated to be sold.

SEN declined to specify where the layoffs would be outside Germany. SEN has about 17,600 employees worldwide, said Marc Langendorf, a Siemens spokesman.