Siemens slashes telecom business

MUNICH, Germany -- Industrial conglomerate Siemens AG will cut 7,000 jobs from its corporate telecommunications unit, Siemens Enterprise Networks, officials with knowledge of the plans told The Associated Press on Monday.

The cuts would amount to about 40 percent of the telecom unit's worldwide work force of 17,500 people. Four thousand jobs would be eliminated outright while 3,000 other workers would be shifted to other units or to company partners, according to the officials, who asked not to be identified by name because the official announcement had not yet been made.

SEN designs large-scale communications systems for corporations, but has come under pressure from the availability of cheaper Internet-based telephone systems -- a development that has eaten away at its customer base and sales.

Spokesmen for the company in Germany and in Illinois declined to comment on the reports. Siemens has offices for its various units around the Chicago suburbs.

"Siemens Enterprise Communications, doing business as Siemens Communications Inc. in the United States, only has a small group of employees in the state of Illinois," said spokesman Jacob Rice.

The Munich-based company intends to announce the cuts today after a meeting of its economic advisory committee, according to the officials. The Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported the planned cuts on Sunday.

Siemens, whose diverse products include trams, turbines and telecommunications equipment, will eliminate 4,000 jobs in the unit worldwide with 2,000 of those cuts coming in Germany, its home market, according to the officials. Another 3,000 workers, including 1,000 in Germany, will be shifted to other units owned by Siemens or to company partners, they said.