Alcatel lays off more workers

Alcatel ravaged its fiber-optics and undersea network businesses today, announcing plans to cut one-third of its employees in the divisions by the middle of next year. Alcatel cited souring economic conditions and the specific dwindling demand in the fiber-optics and oceanic transport markets as the reasons for the cuts.

The undersea cable division will be the hardest hit, losing 2151 employees, or 48% of its work force. Alcatel has announced it is closing its undersea cable plant in Portland. The rest of the cuts will come from its main network facility in Greenwich, U.K.

Alcatel is firing 887 employees in its worldwide optical-fiber business, representing 17% of the unit’s work force. 300 of those cuts will come from Alcatel’s, N.C., plant. Alcatel also announced it is putting an Australian plant on “stand by.”

The cuts come on top of the 20,000 lay offs Alcatel announced in July.

--Kevin Fitchard, staff writer