NTT to cut 17,000 jobs

Japan's top telecommunications company, NTT, says it will shed nearly 8% of its work force and cut interest-bearing debt under a new three-year plan to revive its business.

The overhaul calls for 17,000 job cuts - 7.8% of its staff - to around 199,000, a withdrawal from unprofitable ventures and the sale of properties and healthy subsidiaries by March 2005.