UPDATED: Busy week for jobs in telecom sector

Following an intense weekend of bidding, Linthicum, Md.-based Ciena Corp. prevailed in winning bankrupt telecom equipment provider Nortel Networks Corp.’s Metro Ethernet Networks business for $769 million in total compensation. The assets include Nortel’s optical networking and carrier Ethernet business and are expected to bolster Ciena’s network infrastructure solutions offerings.
Ciena noted that the acquired assets generated $1.36 billion in revenues in 2008 and $556 million during the first half of this year and that it expects them to be accretive to Ciena’s results beginning in 2011.
As part of the deal, Ciena said it expects to make employment offers to at least 2,000 Nortel employees to join Ciena.
Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. said it expects to add 600 jobs in North America next year in support of its continued expansion in the region. The company, which has garnered a number of infrastructure contract wins, currently employs nearly 900 people in North America and has its region headquarters in Plano, Texas.
The news followed a busy week for job changes in the telecom sector.
The country’s largest wireless carrier, Verizon Wireless, announced plans to cut redundant jobs from the former Alltel Communications L.L.C. operations the carrier acquired earlier this year for $28.1 billion. The number of cuts was not known, but they were expected to come from Alltel’s finance, marketing and legal departments.
Verizon Wireless is in the process of shedding approximately 8,000 jobs this year from its operations, with most of the cuts coming from its wireline business.
Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. said it expects to add 600 jobs in North America next year in support of its continued expansion in the region. The company, which has garnered a number of infrastructure contract wins, currently employs nearly 900 people in North America and has its region headquarters in Plano, Texas.
The world’s No. 4 handset maker Sony Ericsson announced last week that it was closing its North American headquarters in Research Triangle Park, N.C., that would include the loss of 425 jobs. The handset manufacturer said it would relocate operations to Atlanta, where up to 30% of employees in N.C. are expected to relocate.
Overseas, Nokia Corp. said it was cutting around 330 jobs in its research and development facilities in Oulu and Copenhagen, Finland, and 220 R&D positions in Japan. The cuts were part of an announced “streamlining” of its R&D operations. Nokia said it would attempt to find new positions for impacted employees within the company.
Bottom near?
A report to be released today by the National Association for Business Economics is set to show that economists expect the nation’s job losses to bottom out during the first quarter of 2010 with companies beginning to slowly add to their payrolls during next year.
A report earlier this month showed that unemployment in the telecom sector remained flat from September to October despite a rise in the country’s overall unemployment rate to 10.2%.