Alcatel to Cut 2,500 U.S. Jobs

Telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel said it would cut 2,500 more jobs in its U.S. operations and consolidate some of its facilities in response to an extended slowdown in spending by its phone and Internet company customers.

The bulk of the layoffs will be at the French company’s U.S. headquarters in Plano, Texas, and in Raleigh, N.C., said Brad Burns, senior vice president of communications for Alcatel Americas.

About 10 employees will lose their jobs in Alcatel’s Petaluma, Calif., offices, but there will be no layoffs at the Alcatel Internetworking division in Calabasas (formerly Xylan Corp.), Burns said.

Alcatel offered buyouts to 9,000 American workers in June, and the company already has eliminated 2,200 U.S. jobs.

Alcatel said last month in the wake of its failed attempt to acquire Lucent Technologies Inc. that it would sell most of its factories in the U.S.

Alcatel’s American depositary receipts fell 27 cents to $16.25 on the New York Stock Exchange. The company announced the job cuts after the close of U.S. markets.