A GWENT factory was expected to announce job cuts today.

It is believed 100 jobs could go at the Solectron plant in Cwmcarn.

The factory, which makes telecommunications equipment, was bought by the Californian-based company from Canadian firm Nortel last year.

Islwyn MP Don Touhig said he had been talking to the company, which was expected to issue a statement this afternoon.

Mr Touhig said: "I am concerned about any job losses. We do have a significant drop in unemployment our area the last four years, but losses are concern and worry."

Brian Hancock, AM for Islwyn, said he believed the company had entered a 90-day consultation period.

He was today planning to contact the firm to offer his help to save jobs there.

Mr Hancock is also calling for other agencies, such as the Welsh Development Agency and Caerphilly council, to offer their support to the company. "This company has a long history in the area," said Mr Hancock.

He said job losses there would be a huge blow to the area. "We cannot afford it," he said.

Solectron is better known in Gwent as Nortel Networks. The Gwent plant originally opened in 1949 as part of the then General Post Office. The plant became BT Consumer Electronics in 1984 which was then a wholly owned subsidiary of British Telecom.

The factory subsequently became Nortel Networks which itself was bought by US-owned Solectron in June last year.

Solectron, founded in 1977, and based in Milipitas, California, is the world's largest electronics manufacturing company.

The firm employs 47,000 people around the world at 45 locations including its base at Cwmcarn.

The telecommunications plant at Cwmcarn, which in June 2000 employed 776 people, celebrated its golden anniversary last year. It is believed the jobs could be lost from the manufacturing arm of the huge factory.

Last year Solectron chief executive Ko Nishimuraspoke of Solectron's "core strategy to continue to expand our business units, capabilities and presence in the telecommunications industry."