Tellabs cuts work force by 1000, closes two facilities

Equipment vendor Tellabs today announced plans to reduce its worldwide work force by about 1000 and close two facilities in an effort to cut costs amid reduced spending by the carrier community,.

Tellabs will lose about 800 employees in the U.S. and 200 abroad. The company will close its manufacturing facility in Round Rock, Texas, and its research-and-development facility in Plymouth, Minn.

Through these and other previous cost-cutting actions, Tellabs expects to reduce its quarterly operating expenses by the first quarter of 2002 to $180 million--a 26% reduction from its first-quarter operating expenses of $242 million last year.

--Kelly Carroll, staff writer