Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia will lay off about 120 employees from the Research and Development Center in Cluj, Romania and the work volume unit will be completely reduced by the end of the third quarter of this year. This move is a part of the group’s new financial strategy.

“As part of Nokia's strategy alignment, the reduce of labor will have an impact on the Research and Development site located in the Olympia Business Center in Cluj. It is expected to affect about 120 people. Nokia estimates that by the end of the third quarter in 2011, current projects undertaken in this location will be completely diminished”, according to the company.

“The reduction of staff is expected to take place in steps by the end of 2012, consistent with the evolving portfolio of products and services of the company.”, the company has also announced.The measures taken by the Finnish company are part of the company’s plan to reduce the expenses of IFRS-unaudited operational Services and Devices division by EUR 1 billion.

According to previous information, Nokia is faced with the largest program of layoffs in the last 20 years. The Finnish mobile manufacturer will announce that it will axe up to 6,000 jobs, all over the world, of the total of 130,000. However, all the employees who might be affected by Nokia’s reduction plans will remain on the company’s payroll until the end of 2011.

Alex Camburu, alex.camburu@romania-insider.com