ERICSSON ANNOUNCES MAJOR STAFF CUTS.

The Swedish telecoms group, Ericsson, said on January 25 that it would cut staff by about 11 % or more than 11,000 people over two years. Rapid technological development and new work methods which were less labour-intensive meant that fewer staff were needed worldwide within the group. Ericsson, which had signalled last month job cuts of about this size, said costs for the programme would be booked throughout the period, at the end of which the cuts would yield their full savings of nearly three billion crowns annually. The move shows Ericsson turning away from traditional fixed telephone networks, where demand is declining, to focus on expanding markets such as mobile phones and wireless communications involving the Internet. In December Ericsson said fourth-quarter earnings would be 15-20% below expectations and 1999 results would fail to meet a long-term growth target of over 20 % sales growth. The warning wiped one fifth off Ericsson shares in two days and hit technology stocks across Europe. Ericsson said the move was a step in making its public networks operations profitable. These include the former Infocom Systems unit, which accounted for about one quarter of total sales, and which was folded into a new division...