Siemens to lay off 2,300 in mobile communications unit

SIEMENS AG, Germany's largest electronics and engineering company, said it will cut 2,300 jobs at its Information and Communication Mobile (ICM) unit as demand for wireless networks falls.

The cuts will help save a total of €1 billion through 2004, Munich-based Siemens said in a statement. The unit, which employed 28,600 people at the end of 2002, has already announced a reduction of 2,000 positions this year. About 500 of the latest job losses will be in Germany.

Chief executive officer Heinrich von Pierer, who has overseen 32,000 job cuts in two years, last week personally took charge of the three ICM units, which include mobile phones, fixed-line networks and information technology services, in order to speed an overhaul and stem losses.