JOB losses are looming at Lucent Technologies in Swindon. It is thought that up to 50 jobs will go in the communications company's ongoing drive to reduce its global workforce from 53,000 to 45,000.
The firm has 750 staff at five sites throughout the town.
A year ago, it closed sites at Malmesbury and Chippenham as part of an earlier programme of 10,000 worldwide redundancies.
The cuts are the result of a current downturn in demand for mobile communications technology.
An unsigned letter sent to the Evening Advertiser claim-ed that 50 jobs were going in Swindon and that the Swindon operation might even be transferred to the USA. Company spokeswoman Emily Baxter said: "It is realistic to say that we are looking at all parts of the business to see how we can streamline our operations.
"It may be that parts of the business in Swindon will be affected, but I can't say where any redundancies will take place because it is subject to internal consultation."
Ms Baxter insisted that all employees, including those in Swindon, would be kept fully up to date with the situation.
The industry as a whole hopes that its lean spell will end with the widespread use of so-called "third generation" mobile telephones with more features than their predecessors.
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