On Tuesday Nokia announced it would be 'streamline operations in several units and functions'. Approximately 1,700 employees will be affected, mainly in the UK, USA and Finland. While the economic environment and Nokia's longer term cost-cutting plans are largely responsible, Nokia says some cuts are a result of the Symbian acquisition.

These cuts are part of Nokia's earlier announcements to adjust its business operations and cost base in the light of market demand (which is estimated to fall by up to 10% this year) and the need to preserve competitiveness in the long term. Earlier this year Nokia announced plans to cut costs in its devices and services division by 700 million Euro by 2010.

Around 700 jobs will be lost in Finland, with a smaller portion going in the UK and Finland. The cuts resulting from the Symbian acquisition are, primarily, due to duplication between Nokia and Symbian in areas such as marketing and operations.

This follows on from an earlier announcement of a program through which Nokia said it was seeking 1,000 voluntary redundancies. The new announcement would take total job loses for the year to 2,700. Nokia has approximately 125,000 staff world wide.

Here's the relevant extract from the press release:

"As part of its previously announced plans to increase cost-efficiency and adapt to the market situation, Nokia today announced further actions it is taking in Devices and Markets units as well as in its Corporate Development Office and global support functions. Nokia plans to scale sales, marketing and technology management to match the pruned portfolio and global consumer demand; address the marketing and other activities that will no longer be integral following the Symbian acquisition; streamline the Devices R&D organization; and increase efficiency in certain global support functions."