UPDATED: Nokia Siemens to cut thousands more jobs following contract termination

The level of job cuts within Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) has increased by 3,500, following the termination of a long-term service contract in Latin America.

The company now plans to cut over 20,000 jobs out of a worldwide total of 74,000, said a report carried by Financial Times Germany.

According to NSN CEO Rajeev Suri, the headcount reduction programme was already underway, with around a third of the 3,000 Germany workforce expected to go, including the closure of its large Munich site.

The CEO said that termination of the services deal was agreed locally with no direct cost implications, and was part of NSN's new strategy to divest itself of non-core business.

NSN has failed to name the operator involved with the termination, but the company is known to have had past dealings in Latin America with Telefonica, Sprint Nextel, Telmex and America Movil.

In an aside from this news, Suri said that the infrastructure business was in decline, and only three worldwide equipment vendors would survive. "Two companies are likely to be eliminated, we will survive," predicted the NSN chief.

Separately, NSN announced that it had secured the contract to build and operate a TD-LTE network for India's largest private telecom firm, Bharti Airtel, in Maharashtra state. The service is expected to undergo a commercial launch later this year.

For more:
- see this Financial Times Germany article
- see this Times of India article

Related Articles:
Nokia Siemens will focus on profits, not market share, says chairman
Siemens CFO: NSN management needs 'strengthening'
Nokia, NSN deny rumors that CEO Suri will be replaced
Nokia Siemens to cut up to 4,100 workers in Germany, Finland
Nokia Siemens lets slip which units will be axed 
Nokia Siemens slashes 23% of workforce in effort to save €1B

Article updated March 9 to change headline from "Nokia Siemens to cut thousands more jobs following contract loss" to "Nokia Siemens to cut thousands more jobs following contract termination."