The global telecommunications company, Nortel Networks, is to create 1,300 new jobs in Northern Ireland, as part of a worldwide expansion costing more than £1 billion. The firm is to spend around £89 million on its operation at Monkstown, County Antrim, building a new factory and increasing its workforce there to 3,300 by the end of 2001.
Overall 9,600 workers were being recruited across operations in Europe, north America and Australia as part of the company's plan to more than double its global optical systems and components production capacity. The drive is to meet demand for networks systems and components, said a statement issued by the firm. Nortel has been established at Monkstown for the past decade and is currently taking on an extra 400 workers as part of an expansion announced earlier this year.
The announcement comes after another Canadian-owned company, Bombardier, confirmed its largest ever order for regional aircraft, which will provide a boost for its subsidiary, Shorts in Belfast, which makes components for the jets. The North's First Minister, David Trimble, welcomed the announcement of the two projects.
