Telecoms and Internet firm Nortel Networks announced 90 redundancies yesterday at its plant in Northern Ireland as part of a global cost-cutting programme.

The job losses will affect temporary employees working at Nortel Network's system house in Monkstown, about 10 miles outside Belfast.

A company statement said the firm continued to feel the economic downturn in the US and was now seeing customers globally assess its affect on business.

Due to the current market environment, global staff would now be reduced by 20,000 by mid-year 2001, a Nortel spokesman said.

"While these decisions were always difficult to make, the company would aim to keep reductions to a minimum," he added.

The job cuts are the latest in a spate of redundancies at the firm's Irish operations, which have reduced numbers by over 10 per cent over the past few months.

In February the company announced 40 job losses at its Galway research and development facility. A further 270 people lost their jobs at Monkstown.

Nortel is one of several global telecoms and Internet firms suffering a major drop in orders from cash-strapped service providers.

Nortel Networks now employs about 2,750 people at its plants in Monkstown, Galway, Shannon and Dublin.