Nortel: a market leader in fibre optics

While Solectron had not been able to confirm the number of jobs under threat, it is thought the figure could be close to 100.

This comes on top of 275 permanent and temporary Nortel staff that were made redundant earlier in the year.

Technology slowdown

In recent weeks Nortel has said that its keeping its employment situation in Northern Ireland under review.

Until a few months ago Nortel was recruiting staff as fast as it could as increasing use of the internet led telecommunications companies to invest heavily in their infrastructure.

Now as part of the slowdown, that investment has been cut back. And just as suddenly, recruitment has been replaced by redundancy.

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

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

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.