NSN ditches Finnish R&D staff

Nokia Siemens is offloading nearly 250 staff to IT services firm Tieto, as part of plans to outsource some functions of its Finnish operations support system (OSS) and subscriber data management (SDM) facilities.
 
The equipment vendor today agreed to transfer 240 research and development (R&D) staff to Tieto in the latest step in a plan to shed non-core businesses. The firm states the move boosts Tieto’s position as an outsourcing provider of R&D and IT services, and expects to gain local competition authority clearance in April.
 
Pekka Soini, NSN’s Finnish country director, claims the move will “enhance the flexibility and efficiency of our operations and further deepen cooperation with Tieto on network management systems.” It will also lead to “new career opportunities,” for the staff involved, he says.
 
Nokia Siemens in November revealed it will slash its workforce by up to 17,000 by end-2013, as it seeks to cut €1 billion from its operating costs by focusing on its core mobile broadband business. The strategy has already seen the vendor agree to sell its Wimax division to NewNet Communications, and its fixed line business to ADTRAN.