By Sven Grundberg
STOCKHOLM--Ericsson (ERIC) expects to continue to grow in the
U.S., given continued strong demand for latest generation
smartphones, the company's chief executive said Friday.
Ericsson's sales in the U.S. was a bright spot in an otherwise
dismal third-quarter report. The North American market now accounts
for 26% of Ericsson's total sales and grew by 16% in the third
quarter compared with the same quarter last year.
"Our position on the North American market is incredibly good.
We work with all major operators over there," Hans Vestberg said in
an interview.
The U.S. growth is driven by the continued popularity of mobile
devices enabled with superfast Long Term Evolution data
connectivity, such as Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) new iPhone 5 and
smartphones from the likes of Samsung Electronics Co.
(005930.SE).
Ericsson's CEO said he thinks the company's long term North
American prospects are bright, given that rollouts of superfast
fourth generation networks are still ongoing for some major U.S.
operators.
"T-Mobile and Sprint have just started rolling out 4G networks
in the U.S., while other operators such as AT&T and Verizon
have done so for several years, and now focus on expanding
capacity," he said. "In the long term, I have no doubts that growth
in the U.S. will continue, although there is always the risk for
short term dips."
Ericsson faces no major competition from its Chinese competitors
ZTE Corp. (0763.HK) and Huawei Technologies in the U.S., due to
concerns among U.S. law-makers that these firms have too close ties
with the Chinese government and security services. Mr. Vestberg
wouln't elaborate on how this lack of competition helps the company
in the U.S. market.
"I concentrate on Ericsson. From my perspective it's pretty
useless to form long-term strategy based upon different assumptions
regarding my competitors. Then I would need to shift strategy
constantly," he said. "I plan for tough times ahead, and for
Ericsson to be the number one player in the industry, no matter the
circumstances."
-Write to Sven Grundberg at sven.grundberg@dowjones.com
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