Nortel is to axe 1,100 jobs as part of a range of measures to cut costs and increase productivity. The telecoms equipment maker didn't specify where the axe would fall except to say that the job cuts would be made "globally".

The Canadian networking giant said it plans to ditch around 1,900 positions in all. At the same time it will create some 800 positions, giving a net reduction of around 1,100. It also plans to shut a number of sites.

"The long-term plan is to consolidate more than 100 sites globally into fewer operations centres of excellence focused on delivering engineering, product and technical support, order management, purchasing and data analysis, among other functions," Nortel said in a statement today.

The total cost of the job losses and associated restructuring is thought to be in the region of $100m over the next two years.

As well as axing jobs, Nortel is also overhauling its pension plan in a bid to "control costs and align with industry-benchmarked companies". These changes are expected to save the firm around $100m, rising to more than $400m by 2012.

Today's announcement is the latest in a series of actions Nortel is taking to achieve "a targeted operating-margin expansion in excess of $1.5bn in 2008". ®