ALCATEL-LUCENT SA, the world's biggest maker of telecommunications equipment, will cut an additional 400 jobs in France.

The company announced the cuts to unions yesterday, Alcatel-Lucent said. No plants will be closed, and the reductions will be accomplished by voluntary departures, the Paris-based company said.

In October, Alcatel-Lucent raised its job-cutting plans to 16,500 employees, about 20 percent of its work force, after reporting a third straight quarterly loss, Bloomberg News reported. The phone-equipment maker had said in February it would shed 12,500 workers.

The company's French unions agreed in September to job cuts in return for more job creation and "proper" severance pay, saying the alternatives to not signing an agreement were "even more dangerous."

Alcatel-Lucent fell six cents, or 1.4 percent, to 4.13 euros in Paris. The stock has plunged 58 percent in the past year, while the Bloomberg Europe Telecommunication Equipment Index has lost 4.1 percent.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon told the company's executives this week to honor agreements with the government and unions on employment. The executives met with Fillon over the company's planned cost cuts, Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said in Parliament.