Industrial conglomerate Siemens will cut 7,000 jobs from its corporate telecommunications unit Siemens Enterprise Networks, officials with knowledge of the plans, quoted by an Associated Press report, said.
The cuts would amount to about 40% of the telecom unit's worldwide work force of 17,500 people, the Associated Press report further said.
Four thousand jobs would be eliminated outright while 3,000 other workers would be shifted to other units or to company partners, according to the officials who asked not to be identified by name because the official announcement had not yet been made, the report said.
The firm designs large-scale communications systems for corporations, but has come under pressure from the availability of cheaper internet-based telephone systems which has eaten away at its customer base and sales, the report further said.
The Munich-based company intends to announce the cuts after a meeting of its economic advisory committee, according to the officials, the report added.
The Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported the planned cuts on Sunday.
Siemens, whose diverse products include trams, turbines and telecommunications equipment, will eliminate 4,000 jobs in the unit worldwide with 2,000 of those cuts coming in Germany, its home market, according to the officials.
Another 3,000 workers, including 1,000 in Germany, will be shifted to other units owned by Siemens or to company partners, they said.