Microsoft to cut 2 thirds mobile personnel in Finland

In its latest move to downsize mobile phone operations in Finland, Microsoft will dismiss 2,300 employees in the Nordic country, the company was quoted by Finnish media as saying on Wednesday.

Microsoft is pulling out completely from the southwestern Finnish town of Salo, which was the birthplace of the boom of Finnish mobile phone industry in 1990s.

While the operation in Salo will be shut down, the unit in Espoo near Helsinki will concentrate on high end phones, applications and design.

Medium priced phones would be designed in Tampere, central Finland. A unit for low end mobile phones would continue in Beijing, China, with reduced manpower.

The latest cutbacks will reduce the total number of Microsoft employees in Finland by about two thirds from the present level of 3,200 persons. The U.S.-based software giant bought the mobile business from Nokia for 5.4 billion euros (about 6 billion U.S. dollars) in 2013.

Under Finnish law, dismissals can only be implemented after talks with the personnel.

Reacting to the layoff plan on Wednesday, the Finnish government said the "world class Finnish know-how" can now be used in several sectors of digitalization. The government listed health technology and intelligent transport and auto-technologies as upcoming possibilities.

The area of Salo will get additional assistance to help in the situation. Production of mobile phones in Salo has ceased during the Nokia era itself.