Marconi to cut 800 UK jobs

Telecoms equipment group Marconi said today it was cutting 800 jobs in the UK as part of an overhaul aimed at improving its competitiveness.

Telecoms equipment group Marconi said today it was cutting 800 jobs in the UK as part of an overhaul aimed at improving its competitiveness.

The move comes a week after Marconi was plunged into crisis by its failure to land a lucrative network upgrade contract with BT.

The group, which has 4,300 staff in the UK - including 1,650 people in Coventry, 630 in Liverpool and 350 in Beeston - said it would merge product units with its regional business organisations.

A spokesman said 300 of the job cuts would be in Liverpool, with another 450 going in Coventry.

The figure includes 180 research and development engineers who had been working on the BT contract.

The shock failure by Marconi to land any work from BT had raised fears that up to 2,000 jobs could be at risk in UK.

However, the spokesman said there were no more announcements on jobs planned for the foreseeable future.

The changes will see Marconi's UK operation become a centre of excellence in soft switch products, software seen as the "brains" of the telecoms network.

Offices in central Europe will specialise in wireless products, while optical and access networks will be covered from southern Europe, and Italy in particular. Data networks will be the main specialism in north America.

Staff outside of those centres of excellence will continue to work on the ground, answering to the respective regional bases.

Marconi said the move would enable it to dismantle much of its current UK-based central organisational structure, leading to many of the cost savings.

It added: "In addition, overhead cost reduction initiatives across all the company's other business functions are being instigated with immediate effect."

Marconi said the 800 job cuts were still subject to consultation with trade union and employee representatives.

Chief executive Mike Parton said the restructuring would make Marconi a "leaner organisation".

He added: "We are committed to maintaining and improving the products and services we provide to our customers."