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RIM will have plenty of company from other telecom companies, including , which said in February it would whack 4,000 jobs upon moving more of its manufacturing from Europe and Mexico to Asia, where factories have larger scale and closer proximity to component makers. The moves dovetail with Nokia's effort to ramp up Phone production as it focuses on that market in light of falling Symbian-based smartphone sales. Nokia finished its fiscal 2011 year with revenue down 21% in the fourth quarter and reported a loss, rather than a profit as it had the year before in the fourth quarter.

Nokia figured prominently among last year's top tech job cutters, axing some 7,500 jobs while refocusing on Windows Phone and handing over Symbian activities to Accenture.

Also on the telecom front, T-Mobile and Sprint have announced layoffs this year.