US reports reveal that the troubled telecommunications vendor may also sell its optical-components division on the back of news that its revenue might be lower than it had forecast for the second quarter.
A spokesperson from Nortel Networks Australia said the company had a policy of not releasing a breakdown of staff cuts by country. However, she added that there was no optical-components business in Australia, which is what the US announcement of the staff cull focussed around.
Last month ZDNet Australia reported that Nortel was looking at shedding staff from its 47,000-strong worldwide workforce.
In its latest effort to get back on track, Nortel is focusing on restructuring its long-distance optical business. The plan includes the potential sale or pruning of the optical-components business.
Nortel has indicated its intention to focus on areas expected to rebound when the market recovers, such as optical switching, photonic transport capabilities and network management.
Tiffany Kary contributed to this story.
