Two telecommunications companies yesterday announced plans to shed a total of 270 jobs.

Canadian group Nortel Networks said 200 jobs would go at its plant in Monkstown, Co Antrim, while a further 20 positions will go at its Galway operations.

And, in another blow for Galway, Irish group Silicon & Software Systems (S3) said 50 jobs would be lost at its design facility in the city.

A spokesman for Nortel said the 220 job losses were part of a previously announced plan to cut 7,000 jobs worldwide as a result of prolonged depressed global economic conditions.

The downsizing will bring the company's Antrim workforce down to 780 from a peak of 2,000 around 18 months ago.

The jobs will be shed across the company's workforce. In Galway the workforce will fall to 280.

The company's spokesman said the problems facing Nortel were "industry-wide" but the group believes it will be back in profit by 2003.

In January, it announced a pro forma net loss from continuing operations for 2001 of $4.51 billion (€4.58 billion).

Mr David Shaw, branch chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses in Antrim, said news of the cuts was a devastating blow for the area.

He said local business organisations and elected representatives need to formulate a plan to grow a tourism industry in the area in order to replace industrial jobs that have been lost in the region in recent decades.

Meanwhile, S3, an IDA-backed electronics design business, which is 90 per cent owned by Philips, said its Galway operation is to shut in 2003.

Around 50 jobs will be lost as a result of the closure. A further 30 positions will go at the firm's Czech Republic and Polish facilities, cutting the global workforce to around 300.

It is understood the closure of the Galway operation will result in increased employment in its Dublin and Cork operations.

Some workers losing their jobs in Galway will be offered the option of relocating to Cork and Dublin.