Milan: Ericsson AB is considering cutting about 1,000 jobs in Italy, about a quarter of its local workforce, after losing out on a contract to manage the country’s largest wireless network, according to people familiar with the matter. The Swedish company wasn’t selected to merge and run the network of CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd. and VimpelCom Ltd, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. The staff reductions are a result of the loss of the contract, valued at about $1 billion (Dh3.67 billion), the people said. A representative of Ericsson declined to comment.