Telecom gear maker Nortel Networks Corp., operating under bankruptcy protection, has announced another 3,200 layoffs worldwide in an attempt to restructure its business.

"There is nothing more difficult than notifying employees, and Nortel is extremely conscious of the personal financial burden this will cause affected employees and their families," said Mike Zafirovski, Nortel's chief executive, in a statement.

At present Nortel is home for about 30,000 employees around the world, including 5,800 at Canadian operations in Ottawa and Toronto. On January 14 it applied for creditor protection with liabilities of almost $12-billion (U. S.) and $2.3-billion of cash.

As cost cutting measures Nortel has taken various steps apart from layoffs like a review of the company's real-estate portfolio and information systems equipment and cut down on pension payments to some of its former executives.