Helsinki (27.09.2012 - Juhani Artto) In India a programme developer is paid 30 per cent of a programme developer's salary in Finland, when the employer's mandatory social contributions are included in the calculation. However, the work done in Finland turns out to be less costly for the company than the work done in India.

Two factors make programming in Finland cheaper. In Finland programmers make far fewer mistakes than their colleagues in India and in Finland the work takes far less time to complete than in India.

The comparison originates from a secret, internal study, made by Nokia Siemens Network (NSN). The magazine 3-T has received a copy of the study and has now published key data from it.

The company management has not made any comment on the revelations.According to the piece published by 3-T, the study is based on data gathered from large programme projects that consist of millions of hours programming.

NSN has its largest R&D unit in China and its second largest in Finland. Next in line come centres in India, Poland, Germany and the USA.Data from the NSN study has caused dismay among salaried employees in Finland.

Last week NSN began mandatory consultation with personnel representatives aiming to cut 400 jobs in Finland and elsewhere.