HELSINKI: Finnish-German telecom equipment maker Nokia Siemens said yesterday that it could reduce its 64,000-strong workforce by seven to nine percent, or 5,800 jobs, in a cost-cutting drive.

The cost-cutting is to “improve financial performance and return to growth” by reducing ¤500m ($732m) in annualised operating expenses and production overheads by 2011, the company said.

“As part of this effort, the company will also conduct a global personnel review which may lead to headcount reductions in the range of about 7-9 percent of its current approximately 64,000 employees,” it added. Nokia Siemens’ woes have dragged down parent companies Nokia of Finland and Siemens of Germany.

Nokia, the world’s biggest mobile phone maker, last month reported its first quarterly loss in a decade partly due to a 908-million-euro impairment charge for goodwill in the Nokia Siemens joint venture. It launched in early 2007 and immediately announced job cuts in both Finland and Germany, reducing its workforce to 17,500 people from 22,000 employees.

“Despite having fully achieved the original merger integration savings objective of Nokia Siemens Networks, changes in the global economy and competitive environment make further cost reductions necessary,” the company said.

The Finnish-German business did not say which countries would be affected by the job cuts, but indicated these could be larger than nine percent of the workforce in some of them.