Four thousand more Nokia employees will lose their jobs by the end of 2026. The Finnish telecom giant is slashing another 20% of its workforce as part of a cost-cutting blitz that could save up to €1.2 billion. If confirmed, this would mark the largest single wave of Nokia layoffs in recent years — deepening telecom's brutal downturn.
Nokia has been wielding the layoff axe with surgical precision since 2018. The company has already cut its headcount from 103,000 to 74,100 — that's 29,000 people who've walked out the door. Now comes the next phase.
The goal is simple: save between €800 million and €1.2 billion by 2026. Most of that will come from payroll cuts — corporate speak for firing people. It's not the most creative cost-saving strategy, but it's the easiest to execute when quarterly earnings calls are breathing down your neck.
🔥 The Damage in Numbers
What's driving this carnage? The telecom infrastructure market has hit a wall. Everyone's waiting for the next wave of network upgrades — 5G is barely paying for itself, 6G is still a PowerPoint presentation. Meanwhile, carriers have slammed the brakes on spending thanks to sky-high borrowing costs and stubborn inflation.
The result? Companies like Nokia — which bet everything on network infrastructure after ditching smartphones — are watching sales crater. Third-quarter 2025 sales dropped 20%. When revenue falls off a cliff, executives reach for the org chart first.
📊 Where Nokia's Pain Runs Deepest
North America has become Nokia's biggest headache. Carriers there have essentially stopped ordering new 5G equipment. It's not that they don't want it — they can't afford it. High interest rates have made borrowing prohibitively expensive for infrastructure upgrades.
Europe isn't faring much better. The problem there is different — telecom companies already spent heavily on 5G in previous years and now they're waiting for those investments to pay off before writing more checks.
India: The Lone Bright Spot
The only market keeping Nokia afloat is India, where sales jumped 75% in the first quarter of 2025. But even that surge isn't enough to offset the collapse everywhere else.
Ironically, despite booming sales in India, Nokia is planning job cuts there too. Of the 17,708 employees it employs in the country, several thousand are expected to lose their positions.
⚡ Nokia's Freeze-and-Wait Strategy
What exactly is Nokia's game plan? The company is pursuing what we might call a "freeze-and-wait strategy." Instead of investing in new products or services, it's cutting costs and hoping the market recovers.
CEO Pekka Lundmark said the company expects "improvement in our Networks business in the current quarter despite market uncertainty." He said the same thing last quarter. And the quarter before that.
From phones to infrastructure: The company that once made the world's most popular mobile phones (who doesn't remember the indestructible 3310?) has transformed into a network infrastructure specialist. After selling its smartphone division to Microsoft, Nokia focused on telecom equipment — cell towers, base stations, cloud services.
The AI Infrastructure Gamble
Nokia is trying to pivot toward artificial intelligence infrastructure. It recently acquired American optical networking company Infinera, betting that AI data centers will need more powerful interconnects.
But there's a problem: the AI equipment market is already dominated by giants like NVIDIA and Intel. Nokia will need to carve out its own niche — and it's not obvious what that will be.
🏢 What This Means for Global Markets
Nokia's pain signals broader trouble across telecom. When one of the "big three" infrastructure vendors (Nokia, Ericsson, Huawei) starts massive layoffs, it signals trouble for the entire ecosystem.
The job cuts could affect service quality for carriers worldwide. Fewer engineers means slower response times to technical problems and reduced support for network upgrades.
"We have incredibly talented people at Nokia and we will support everyone affected by this process"
— Nokia spokesperson
The company said the same thing in 2023. And 2024. And now 2026. At some point, corporate platitudes lose their meaning when accompanied by continuous layoffs.
The Search for Alternatives
Telecom providers will likely need to seek alternative solutions. Ericsson, Nokia's main rival, has also announced thousands of layoffs recently.
This leaves more room for smaller players or Chinese companies (except Huawei, which remains banned in many markets). But these companies lack the technical expertise and support infrastructure that the Nordic giants provide.
🎯 What Comes Next
The job cuts will roll out gradually. Nokia aims to save €400 million in 2024 and another €300 million in 2025. The remainder will come in 2026.
The plan sounds logical on paper, but carries a major risk: if the market recovers faster than Nokia expects, the company could find itself understaffed to meet demand.
Layoff Timeline
The cuts will be completed by the end of 2026, focusing on departments with overlapping roles following the 2023 merger of Cloud and Network Services with Mobile Networks.
Geographic Distribution
Nokia hasn't revealed which countries will be hit hardest, but analysts expect Europe and North America to see the largest cuts.
But that scenario seems unlikely. Analysts predict the telecom infrastructure market will remain weak at least through 2027. The reason is simple: carriers have already invested billions in 5G and need to recoup those investments first.
This creates a paradox: technology evolves faster than companies can financially keep up. 6G is already on roadmaps, but how many carriers will have the cash to adopt it when the time comes?
💭 The Bigger Picture
The next few months will be critical for Nokia. If the company's predictions prove correct and the market starts recovering, the cuts could look like a smart move. If the downturn lasts longer, Nokia could find itself in serious trouble.
The biggest risk is that in an industry built on innovation and technology, workforce reductions can have long-term consequences. Fewer engineers means less research and development. Less R&D means losing technological leadership.
Whether Nokia's strategy proves successful or leads to further market share losses is uncertain. A company that once dominated mobile phones knows how quickly things can change in tech. The question is whether it has learned from past mistakes or is repeating them in a different form.
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