PARIS (Reuters) - Telecommunications gear maker Alcatel-Lucent (ALU.PA) could cut more than 20 percent of its world-wide staff, L'Expansion weekly said on Tuesday on its Website, citing industry sources.þþThis would mean 15,000 to 20,000 jobs of which 1,500 to 2,000 would be in France. The site quoted union sources as saying 500 of these would be through early retirement.þþAlcatel-Lucent had earlier planned to cut 10 percent of its workforce as part of the merger, L'Expansion said.þþAlcatel had no immediate comment.þþThe group will publish its 2006 results on Friday.þþOn January 23, the group lost over a tenth of its market value after it warned that uncertainty created by its recent merger would hurt sales and profits.þþThe two companies began operating from December 1 as a combined unit which is the world's second-largest supplier of telecom network and mobile equipment after Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO.O).þþAlcatel-Lucent said last month it expected unadjusted fourth-quarter revenues of about 3.87 billion euros ($5 billion) and fourth-quarter operating income of about 120 million euros. It added it expected asset-impairment charges of around 800 million euros for the fourth quarter.þþThe company said its planned cost savings of at least 600 million euros for 2007 are 200 million euros higher than initially announced.þþ
Source: NY Times
