L.M. Ericsson expects the global market for mobile systems to slightly top 2004 figures, reflecting the company’s high spirits about its leading position in infrastructure.
“Confidence is back in the industry; we are seeing an increased focus on business development and revenue growth,” said Carl-Henric Svanberg, Ericsson’s president and chief executive, during the company’s Fall Capital Markets Day.
The Swedish vendor also unveiled a slew of contracts, highlighting its premier place in the network arena.
Svanberg talked up what he called the “catch-up effect” in the mobile systems market, referring to the upswing in spending during the year to make up for the lag in the past few years of recession.
“The temporary catch-up effect inflates the total mobile systems market growth in 2004,” he said, “excluding this catch-up effect in 2004, we estimate a moderate underlying market growth in 2005.”
The United States is Ericsson’s largest market, Svanberg said, noting Ericsson counts five of the largest U.S. wireless operators as customers.
“We see new business opportunities in services, particularly in managed services, but also in new federal government business,” said Svanberg.
The company expects Cingular Wireless L.L.C. to step up its spending to upstage Verizon Wireless. Cingular put a hold on new contracts to complete the nuts and bolts of its acquisition of AT&T Wireless Services Inc.
Ericsson also said it has taken the lead in the mobile platforms market for devices with 30 percent of the global market.
“Handset manufacturers and operators appreciate our platforms’ stability, interoperability and performance,” said Sandeep Chennakeshu, president of Ericsson’s mobile platforms division.
The platform offerings cover reference designs, applications software, chipsets and development boards, development tools, software testing tools and interoperability support.
Svanberg said its third-generation offerings match landline capabilities. “Voice went mobile, now broadband is going mobile,” said Svanberg. “Ericsson aims to bring broadband connectivity to everyone, wherever they are, not only over wireline, but also over wireless networks.”
