The former rubber boot maker flogged off its loss making handset maker to Microsoft which purged them as Redmond restructured. The network part of Nokia was considered lucky and it did so well that it could afford to buy Alcatel-Lucent.

Now to integrate the new company Nokia is laying off persone too.It is not saying it is about cost cutting, according to the press release it is "as part of its synergy and transformation programme." Clearly if you don't have enough synergy then there are people who have to be thrown out into the cold and the snow where they can be transformed in to snowmen and ice mummies.

The company could decimate its ranks and get rid of up to 15,000 positions out of a combined Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent staff of 104,000.Nokia said it will cut about 1,300 jobs in Finland alone and will begin meeting with workers in 30 countries in the upcoming weeks. Reductions are expected to come in the areas where Nokia says there are overlaps, such as research and development, as well as regional and sales organisations, according to the release.

One executive of a channel partner of Alcatel-Lucent, which is based in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, said that although the staff reduction on the surface appears negative, the reductions will enable the company to focus more closely on its fast-growing market segments.See? French workers will be feeling much better already knowing that.

The vendor attempting to reduce $1.03 billion in operating costs by 2018, according to the release, while also looking at savings in the areas of manufacturing, real estate, services, procurement and supply chain.