French phone equipment maker Alcatel said today that it planned to cut 1,700 jobs in its carrier equipment unit CIT to deal with the slowdown in the telecommunications industry.
A company spokeswoman said the cuts were part of the 10,000 additional reductions Alcatel had announced at the end of October.
Half of the reductions at CIT would be accounted for by the non-renewal of fixed-term contracts and half from early retirement, the company said in statement.
The cost reduction plan was initiated during the last quarter of 2001 and will continue throughout 2002, Alcatel said.
At the end of last month the unit had 9,900 employees and 1,000 fixed term contracts.
