Monthly Archives: February 2009

I have deliberately avoided discussing the economy too much on 247 for fear of being seen as negative, although it would be difficult to compete with the BBC in that respect. A few stories appeared today, however, that are worthy of mention.

Nokia is looking at a few measures to cut costs- “As part of its previously announced plans to increase cost-efficiency and adapt to the challenging market environment, Nokia today announced new voluntary measures aimed at reducing personnel-related costs and lessening the need for involuntary redundancies. The initiatives announced today include the global Voluntary Resignation Package and wider use of short-term unpaid leaves and sabbaticals. Nokia also encourages employees to take holiday as time off instead of taking cash compensation in 2009.”

Vodafone has announced 500 UK redundancies- “Mobile phone operator Vodafone has announced plans to cut about 500 jobs in the UK in an effort to reduce costs. Vodafone, the world’s largest mobile phone company by income, is shedding jobs as part of previously-announced plans for £1bn ($1.4bn) of cost cuts. Vodafone, which employs 10,000 workers in the UK, faces rising raw material prices and increasing competition. The 500 job losses include 170 posts at Vodafone’s head office in Newbury, Berkshire, in back-office type roles. All the group’s operations are set to be affected, including a reorganisation of some of its call centres.” More at BBC.

The Impact of the Economic Downturn on Mobility is a worthy read over at cellular-news and somewhat positive- “The mobile sector has emerged as the dominant driver of the global telecommunications industry. The US$700 billion mobile industry now serves almost half of the world’s population with 3.6 billion subscriptions at the end of 2008. Looking beyond the tremendous growth in revenue and subscriptions, the mobile industry is a diverse one, indeed a tale of two worlds – the developed and emerging markets. It is also an industry that is roiled by social and technological transformation, as well as the fickle but equally important dictates of fashion and consumer preferences.

IDC believes the mobile industry is likely to fare the current global economic downturn better than many other industries. For sure, in 2009, the industry is likely to see softening of sales in many of its constituent segments, from network infrastructure to mobile devices and from chipsets to software. Some other industry segments, like mobile devices, applications, and services, are likely to only grow over time – taking the current economic downturn in their stride.”