Nokia, the world"s leading maker of mobile phones, has said it was taking "proactive steps" to improve efficiency in research and development, related sales, marketing activities and internal information technology operations. To start with, Nokia plans to cut around 700 jobs (of global 65,000 in the year 2006), with the majority being in the company"s homeland, Finland. The company hopes to redeploy those affected into new positions within the company and offer voluntary retirement where possible. "The communications industry is undergoing a transformation, driven by convergence, increased complexity, and strong growth in emerging markets," the company said in a statement.