A Sussex telecommunications manufacturer may have to axe a third of its workforce because of shrinking sales.

Hove-based Hosiden Besson is to begin talks on redundancies with its 240 staff next week.

The company makes accessories for mobile phones and has blamed a dramatic slowdown in the market for the decision to shed staff.

Managing director Richard Edwards said as much as a third of the workforce could go but all redundancies would be subject to consultation.

He said: "It is going to be a substantial number assuming things don't improve.

"We have briefed the staff that the business situation is bad and there is a possibility of redundancies.

"We are really at the very beginning, I have to be cautious at this stage with the requirements of consultation."

As well as accessories for mobile phone handsets, Hosiden Besson also makes test equipment and network connection equipment for the telecommunications industry.

Mr Edwards said the company's order book had shrunk as the market had slowed after several boom years. He also blamed the high pound and the economic downturn in the United States for the decision to shed staff.

He said: "It is not just a short-term blip. If it was, we would sit tight and wait for the upturn."

Hosiden Besson, which is a subsidiary of the Japanese Hosiden group, operates from the St Joseph's trading estate in Hove and from two sites in Portslade.

The firm, which celebrated its 40th birthday in 1997, began as a manufacturer of earpieces and microphones for the NHS.

In 1997 it employed more than 700 people in Sussex and on the Isle of Wight. That branch is now closed.

Don Turner, lead councillor for economic development at Brighton and Hove City Council, said the redundancies went against the recent trend in the area.

He said: "Hopefully, this is just an isolated instance. Besson has been a good employer in this area for many years and we are certainly disappointed they have got problems."

However, Mark Froud, director of policy at Sussex Enterprise, said the long-term future of the mobile phone industry still looked positive.

But he said there had been a fall in consumer confidence as stock exchanges across the world had lost up to 50 per cent of their value.

Mr Froud said: "Our view is that while there is a slowdown, connected with a lack of consumer confidence, in the long term there are positive signs of growth.

"We think it's likely to be one of the fastest-growing markets. The future of the internet is linked with mobile phone technology.

"The rate of growth is faster than the rate of growth of their market and therefore there may be job losses.

"In the long term there are positive signs of growth. This is a short-term issue and some companies will lose staff while others will gain staff."