Ericsson to shed 80 staff but seek 50 more

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 26 October 2010 23:36

IT Industry - Strategy

Ericsson Australia has announced plans to retrench 80 staff, plus 10 contractors, by year-end as it winds back the global role played by the Australian operation, but will seek new hires in emerging areas such as LTE and operational support systems.

In a statement, the company said: "Previously, Ericsson's global technical competence has been centred in several hub locations supporting many countries. Ericsson Australia, with approximately 1,400 employees, was one of these hubs. The demand on the Australian hub is reducing as other Ericsson operations across the globe become more self-reliant.

"This reduced demand, combined with an assessment of current and anticipated business, has led to the decision to repatriate a number of highly-skilled Australian employees working overseas as well as the identification of areas of over-capacity for particular competencies. This will mean some reductions in permanent and contract staff over the coming months."

The company said, however, that it would seek to hire 50 new staff "in strategic competence areas reflecting technology evolution and changes in customer requirements in the local market" by the end of June 2011. These include LTE, operational support systems (OSS) and project management.

A major OSS contract, yet to be awarded, is that for the National Broadband Network. NBN Co CEO Mike Quigley in his first press briefing last September said that NBN Co would likely go for a single OSS vendor. In February this year the company issued a call for expressions of interest for OSS/BSS. It is believed to have received over 100 responses.

Ericsson was unable to provide many details on the "particular competencies" in which it now has over-capacity, but an Ericsson spokesman said one of these was mobile soft-switching.

Sam Saba, Australia and New Zealand CEO said, "These changes are designed to ensure that Ericsson has the right skills close to our customers, so we can be a more responsive and innovative business partner."

He added that current and future projects with Ericsson customers in Australia and New Zealand would not be affected by the implementation of the operational changes. "The Ericsson centres of excellence for LTE and IPTV will continue to be based in Australia, demonstrating our strong commitment to and capability in partnering with customers on these technologies.