The bad news for telecoms continued yesterday as companies both sides of the Atlantic announced major job cuts.

French telecoms equipment maker Alcatel, which employs more than 220 people at plants in Dublin and Bandon, Co Cork, will shed 20,000 jobs this year to ensure it makes an annual profit. US fiber-optic group JDS Uniphase last night announced a surprisingly large $477 million quarterly loss and said the firm would be cutting a total of 16,000 jobs as a result of the slump in the sector, leaving the group with just 13,000 employees.

The Alcatel cost-cutting plan was unveiled as it posted a record quarterly net loss. The firm said it would cut 4,000 jobs in Europe. It had previously announced 5,300 job cuts.