A Devon telecommunications factory has been saved from closure after being bought by another company.

Nortel Networks is selling its plant in Paignton to Oxfordshire-based optical components firm Bookham Technology.

It is expected the new company will make about 200 redundancies, but a further 800 jobs should be safeguarded.

About 4,000 people have already been laid off in Paignton over the last 18 months after a downturn in the global telecommunications market.

Staff had been expecting an announcement

The factory's 1,000 staff were told the news at a meeting at 0830 BST on Monday.

They had been expecting an announcement for several weeks about their future.

The deal still has to go before Bookham shareholders and is expected to be finalised by December.

Bookham chief executive Giorgio Anania said he is confident he can make the plant a success.

He said: "It's by making Nortel products available to the other players.

"Nortel has about 20% world systems market, but because it is being perceived as a competitor by all the other players, essentially 80% of the market has not been available to Nortel.

"By being part of an independent entity like Bookham, we can make those products available outside and enhance the opportunities available to them."

We very much regret that 200 people are going to lose their jobs as a result of this

Sue Brownlow

However, Steve Abely, chief financial officer at Bookham, said: "We are clearly going to need to consolidate some facilities, which will involve some job cuts."

But the South West Regional Development Agency has said it is great news for the region.

Head of operations Sue Brownlow said they were preparing for worst.

She said: "Some jobs are going to go, and we very much regret that 200 people are going to lose their jobs as a result of this.

"But looking on the bright side, we were all braced for some further bad news that 900 or 1,000 jobs were going to go here."

The plant, which makes fibre-optic components for the telecommunications industry, once employed about 5,000 people and was one of the area's biggest employers.