Siemens Mobile Unit To Cut 2,300 Jobs

Siemens mobile, which currently has some 28,000 employees worldwide, said the jobs will be eliminated by the end of the company's next fiscal year on Sept. 30, 2004.

The unit, which already has cut some 2,000 jobs in each of the last two years, said 500 cuts will be in Germany but did not say where the rest of the new reductions would be made.

"The world market for mobile communication networks had already declined by 15 percent last year. This year, the market will contract by up to 20 percent," Siemens board member and unit head Rudi Lamprecht said in a statement.

"Moreover, sales in the mobile phone market are stagnating, in spite of higher volumes," he added.

Siemens mobile said it hopes to cut costs by an additional $1.14 billion over the next year, improving productivity while investing further in mobile phone networks.

Siemens shares were down 0.3 percent at $56.65 in afternoon trading on the Frankfurt exchange.