Mobile phone giant calls time on 700 UK jobs

The group said the jobs would go by the end of 2012 as it looks to slash costs by £886m.

A further 3,000 jobs will be affected worldwide by a move to outsource its Symbian software operations to Accenture, although the group said it was too early to give details of how many UK jobs will be involved.

Nokia – the world’s biggest mobile phone maker – employs about 2,400 staff in the UK, with main sites in London and Farnborough, Hampshire.

The Finnish group said the jobs would largely go across research and development and in software roles.

The jobs blow came just a week after the Scandinavian company revealed its market share slipped below 30 per cent for the first time in a decade as it lost out to Apple’s iPhone.