China's leading telecom device maker ZTE plans to cut 3,000 employees, accounting for about 5% of total employees in the company.

According to reports in Chinese local media, the employee layoff is expected to finish in the first quarter of 2017.

ZTE Terminal, which covers ZTE's mobile phone business, will be the most impacted division in the layoff scheme. ZTE's worldwide mobile phone businesses will also cut 600 employees, which equal to 10% of total mobile phone business employees. And a high-level supervisor from ZTE said that the company's China mobile phone business will cut over 20% of its employees.

This is not the first time the company has laid off so many staff. To improve the operation of the company, ZTE implemented a subsidiary spin-off and large employee layoff in 2012. At the end of 2012, ZTE cut 15% employees, which means over 10,000 people lost their jobs. At the same time, some projects were axed and some employees faced pay cuts.