Ericsson to Lay off up to 1,000 Employees

Ericsson plans to cut up to about 1,000 employees, and will in the process close its site in the Swedish town of Gävle, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

The site in Gävle employs 856 people, and has been used to manufacture radio base stations, according to a spokeswoman at Ericsson. Another 90 employees in the Swedish town of Borås will be affected by the cut.

Ericsson still has manufacturing at five sites in Sweden, the spokeswoman said.

The reason for the layoffs is that Ericsson is in the process of announcing new products that need fewer employees to be manufactured, the company said. In total, Ericsson has about 75,000 employees, it said.

The Nordic telecommunications sector continues to see staff cuts. On Nov. 20, Nokia announced it planned to lay off up to 330 employees in Finland and Denmark.