Motorola is cutting 3,000 jobs and delaying the spin-off of its loss-making mobile phone business after suffering a $397m loss in the third quarter amid a dramatic fall in handset sales.

The telecommunications company had agreed this year to the demands of investor Carl Icahn to split off the handset unit. But it said Thursday “macroeconomic conditions” would prevent it from completing the move by the third quarter of 2009, although it intended to proceed with the spin-off at a later date.