Ericsson revenue in Q4 2014 rose 1 percent to SEK 68 billion or $8.19 billion, while net income dropped 35 percent to SEK 4.2 billion or $505 million.
The revenue of Ericsson in 2014 decreased marginally to $27.47 billion or SEK 228 billion from SEK 227.4 billion. Ericsson net income dipped to $1.33 billion or SEK 11.1 billion from SEK 12.2 billion.
Q4 2014
In Q4 2014, network business, whose president stepped down recently to join Vodafone as CTO, of Ericsson clocked SEK 34.1 billion, Global services SEK 29.8 billion and support solutions SEK 4 billion. In 2014, network business generated revenue of SEK 117.5 billion, global services SEK 97.7 billion and support solutions SEK 12.7 billion.
Hans Vestberg, president and CEO of Ericsson, said: “In the fourth quarter, strong sales growth in the Middle East, Europe and Asia was offset by a continued decline in North America.”
North America pulls down
Ericsson said an 8 percent sales decline in North America in 2014 was compensated by growth in the Middle East, Europe and Asia.
Ericsson CEO said mobile broadband sales increased and these contracts contributed to sales growth in mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, India and parts of Europe. LTE deployments primarily contributed to the growth in mainland China.
Sales in North America were mainly driven by operator investments in capacity and quality enhancements also this quarter — at a slower pace. Business activity slowed further in the quarter as telecom operators remained focused on cash flow optimization to finance major acquisitions and spectrum auctions.
“Though consumer demand and mobile data traffic growth continues to be strong in North America, we anticipate the North American mobile broadband business to remain slow in the short-term,” he said.
Global Services showed stable growth with momentum for professional services driven by managed services and systems integration sales. During the quarter, 17 new managed services contracts were signed, including a pan-India contract with Reliance Communications.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com