India is important R&D centre and market: Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel Lucent (ALU) on Monday said its commitment to India remains unchanged even as the French telecom infrastructure firm has announced plans to reduce its global headcount by 5,000.

"India is an important research and development centre and market for Alcatel-Lucent globally. Our commitment to building India's broadband infrastructure remains unchanged," Alcatel-Lucent said in a statement.

The firm in July this year had said it would reduce headcount by 5,000 globally and exit or restructure non-profitable markets to save 1.25 billion euros by the end of 2013.

The company had also announced a series of measures to reduce its costs after it reported a net loss of 254 million euros for the second quarter which ended on June 30, 2012.

Its revenues during the quarter declined by 7.1 per cent at 3,545 million euros compared to 3,817 million euros it reported for the same period a year ago.

Commenting on reports that said the company is planning to cut 1,000 jobs in India as part of 'The Performance Programme', the company said it has made no announcements yet on where headcount reductions would occur around the world as part of the programme.

The firm launched 'The Performance Programme' to achieve an additional 750 million euro cost reduction, bringing total savings to 1.25 billion euro by the end of 2013.

The company employs 10,000 people in India and manages half of fixed and CDMA wireless lines in the country.