Telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent said Friday it swung to a loss in the fourth quarter and increased by 3,500 the number of jobs it plans to cut.
Alcatel-Lucent will now cut 12,500 job cuts worldwide over the next three years, up from the 9,000 originally previously announced when U.S.-based Lucent Technologies Inc. was acquired for $11.6 billion by Alcatel SA of Paris last year.
French unions have called for a strike Feb. 15 to protest the job cuts.
The company lost $802.84 million for the three months ending Dec. 31, compared to a profit of 381 million euros the previous year, Alcatel-Lucent said in a statement.
Chief Executive Patricia Russo said in a statement that the results were "clearly disappointing," with adjusted pro-forma revenues for the fourth quarter down 16 percent to $5.74 billion compared to 5.25 billion euros the previous year.
Full-year revenue fell 1.7 percent to $23.71 billion.
The company issued a profit warning in January and forecast its 2006 revenue at levels similar to 2005, leading to a series of analyst downgrades on the stock.
The company expects revenue for 2007 to rise by about 5 percent.
