iPhone Developers

Picture shows Nokia mobile phone at a shop in Warsaw, January 26, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Kacper Pempel

HELSINKI (Reuters) – Struggling Finnish phone maker Nokia plans to cut 4,000 more jobs at its plants in Finland, Hungary and Mexico as it seeks to cut costs by moving smartphone assembly work to Asia.

Nokia said in a statement the job cuts would take place in phases through this year. It has been reviewing the operations since unveiling the closure of its Romania plant last September.

On January 26 Nokia reported a 73 percent fall in fourth-quarter earnings after sales of its new Windows Phones failed to dent the dominance of Apple Inc’s iPhone or compensate for diving sales of its own old smartphones.

Nokia announced in April last year it would cut 7,000 jobs and unveiled a further 3,500 job losses in September. Its network arm Nokia Siemens announced cuts of 17,000 in November.

The group had 130,000 staff at the end of 2011, including Nokia Siemens.

Shares in Nokia were 0.4 percent higher at 3.898 euros, in line with firmer technology shares, by 3:17 a.m. ET.

(Reporting By Tarmo Virki; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford and Jodie Ginsberg)