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Newly-merged telecoms equipment firm Alcatel-Lucent is to cut 12,500 jobs over the next three years after suffering a collapse in profits. The firm said the cuts were "difficult but necessary" as it sought savings of more than 1.7 billion euros ($2.2 billion). The firm has struggled over the past year, with profits more than halving to 522 million euros in 2006 and the business making a loss in the final quarter. It blamed the result on uncertainty surrounding its eventual merger.