Nokia has announced the start of a planned restructuring that will reduce its global IT personnel by 300 employees and see a further 820 jobs outsourced to external agencies, HCL Technologies and TATA Consultancy Services.

Most of the jobs affected are based in Finland, as domestic redundancies involve fewer legal complications.

The Finnish firm said that streamlining its IT structure will “increase operational efficiency and reduce operating costs” while allowing it to meet a previously announced redundancy target for a reduction of its global workforce by 10,000 employees in 2013.

“These are the last anticipated reductions as part of Nokia's focused strategy announcement of June 2012,” Nokia said in a statement.

This announcement follows an improved quarterly performance by Nokia that is being attributed to an increase in sales for its Lumia smartphone line, as well as reduced overall expenditure - a consequence of its ongoing cost-saving measures.

 Image credit: Flickr (Andrew Currie)