Sales up 24% on last year; operators buying managed services
Ericsson reported first quarter earnings up 24% on last year’s quarter, and down 14% sequentially on the final quarter of 2005. CEO Karl-Henric Svanberg said organic sales growth was driven mainly by services, “reflecting operators’ need for focus on business development and total cost of ownership.”
In the year in which Ericsson acquired Marconi much of the 13% growth in Western European sales was acounted for by added Marconi sales, as well as service (managed services) sales.
Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK were all good hunting grounds for Ericsson in the quarter, the company said.
In terms of technology, HSDPA was a strong driver, with Ericsson notching up sales contributions to 30 HSDPA networks globally.
Sales in mobile network systems were up 14% year on year, mirroring the company’s overall sales increase. 52% of radio access sales were for WCDMA/ EDGE networks.
Sales of network rollout and professional services increased 58%, excluding Marconi, reflecting strong growth in network rollouts.