Stockholm, June 25: Ericsson, the world's biggest maker of mobile networks, said on Tuesday it planned to outsource its IT services worldwide to IBM , transferring 1,000 jobs which were part of previously announced staff cuts. Ericsson declined to disclose the financial details of the deal, but a similar agreement it struck with Hewlett-Packard on June 4 to outsource information technology infrastructure was worth hundreds of millions of euros.

The Swedish company said in a statement it had signed a memorandum of understanding to outsource the development, implementation and maintenance of IT applications supporting its business to IBM.
The final agreement would be signed during the third quarter, it said.
Outsourcing is part of Ericsson's plan to return to profit some time in 2003 by cutting costs. The company wants to cut its workforce to 47,000 next year from 61,000 at the end of March as it adjusts to shrinking global demand. Bureau Report