Nokia town faces dim future as jobs shift to Asia

Nokia, Finland's largest firm, provided work for thousands. However, squeezed by fierce competition from Apple's iPhone, Samsung and cheaper brands running Google's popular Android software, Nokia has been forced to slash costs, primarily affecting its operations in Europe.

Nokia has already closed plants in Germany, Hungary and Romania; and now it is the turn of the Finnish assembly plant. Some 1,000 of the 3,500 jobs in Salo - which until recently was Nokia's flagship assembly hub - are being cut this year. The once-thriving technological centre has already become a town of dusty, empty storefronts.

"The latest layoffs will hit us hard," said Salo's mayor, Mr Antti Rantakokko.

"Nokia has been a status symbol for us, but more than that it has been a major source of income," he added.

The company began as a paper-maker in the 1890s, and later made rubber products, cables and televisions before it came to Salo - a centre for Finland's electronics industry since the 1920s - in 1983.

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