Nokia to shed 4,000 jobs as production moves to Asia

Feb 8, 2012, 9:19 GMT

Helsinki - Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, Wednesday said it would shed 4,000 jobs by moving production from Hungary, Mexico and Finland to Asia.

The company estimated that 2,300 employees would be affected at the plant in Komarom, Hungary, 700 in Reynosa, Mexico, and the remaining 1,000 in Salo, Finland.

The cuts were planned to be phased through the end of 2012. Remaining employees were to work with smartphone product customization, mainly in Europe and the Americas, Nokia said.

'Shifting device assembly to Asia is targeted at improving our time to market,' said Niklas Savander, the head of markets.

The group in September announced it was reviewing its smartphone manufacturing operations in order to improve competitiveness.

Nokia is trying to regain its former dominant role in the high-end mobile phone sector, and a year ago signed a cooperation agreement with software company Microsoft to use its Windows operating system.

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