The telecommunications company Nortel has said it can offer no guidance about whether there will be further jobs losses in Northern Ireland.

It follows an announcement on Friday that the Canadian company was to cut an additional 5,000 jobs worldwide.

Nortel had already announced plans for 15,000 redundancies globally.

Last month it emerged that it intended to cut about 270 jobs at its Northern Ireland plant at Monkstown in County Antrim.

Losses

On Friday, Nortel reported a loss of $385m in the first quarter of this year.

This contrasted with the company's gain of $347m in the same period a year ago.

It was the first time that the company had reported a loss since 1993.

Because of "uncertainty" in the economy, the company declined to provide any guidance for the next quarter, or the full year.

Global tech slowdown

Nortel shocked the stock markets earlier in the quarter with a profits warning.

In January, the company stopped recruiting at its Northern Ireland plant after a period of rapid expansion.

But it said its County Antrim site was still in the fastest growing sector of its business.

It makes telecommunications transmission equipment in Monkstown and has been a market leader in the provision of fibre optic equipment.

The uncertainty at Nortel has come during the recent downturn in the global technology sector.

It follows another recent job losses announcement in the sector by Valance Technologies, based at Mallusk in Newtownabbey in County Antrim, that it intended to lay off 181 people.