On 26 July 2012, French producer of telephone network equipment Alcatel-Lucent announced its intention to cut 5,000 jobs (6.6% of its workforce).

The group reported a substantial loss in the second quarter of the year and saw its sales fall by 7.1%. Alcatel-Lucent CEO Ben Verwaayen stressed the necessity of restructuring due to a decline in demand for network equipment and rising competition. The cuts will be made by the end of 2013 and will affect all sectors except for the R&D department. 

Since the merger with Lucent the company has cut around 20,000 jobs. 

UPDATE 19/10/2012: The group has announced 5,490 job cuts worldwide, with a large number of job cuts being implemented in France (1,430 job cuts, 15% of the whole workforce in this country). Other EU states will see 3,300 jobs go, while 900 jobs are to be cut in the Asia-Pacific region.