Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson : Global scale, strong market position highlighted at Ericsson AGM
05/03/2012| 12:23pm US/Eastern

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At Annual General Meeting of shareholders, Ericsson
President and CEO Hans Vestberg gave an overview of 2011
financial results and strategic decisions
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Good sales growth; profitability remains in focus
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Information and Communications Technology (ICT) reaching
all parts of society - from electric vehicles to city
planning
At Ericsson's (NASDAQ: ERIC) Annual General Meeting,
President and CEO Hans Vestberg reviewed financial results
and discussed strategic decisions made throughout 2011, which
he told shareholders will ensure continued technology and
services leadership for the company.
As previously reported in the
Annual Report, published on March 15, income increased by
12% and sales, excluding acquisitions and divestments,
increased by 19% adjusted for currencies. Net sales were SEK
227 billion for 2011. During the same period, Ericsson
increased its market share for mobile network equipment by 6%
to 38%. Ericsson holds the number one position as a global
telecom equipment vendor and is twice as large as its nearest
competitor.
Vestberg gave an overview of Ericsson's focus areas:
mobile broadband, managed services, and OSS/BSS (Operations
Support Systems and Business Support Systems). Business Unit
Support Solutions, formerly Multimedia, has defined a new
strategy in 2012 that builds on OSS/BSS, TV and media
solutions as well as M-Commerce.
2011 was a tough year for Ericsson's joint ventures,
which both reported losses. Vestberg remarked on the
divestment of Sony Ericsson as emotional, because Ericsson
has been involved in making telephones practically since the
company's inception in 1876, but said it made good
business sense in the strategy to enable 50 billion connected
devices - not just phones.
With regard to ST-Ericsson, Vestberg told shareholders that
the company has presented a new business strategy and
announced steps to return to profitability.
Networked Society
By the end of 2011, there were 6 billion mobile subscriptions
in the world. There are about 7 billion people on Earth. Even
more importantly, subscriptions for mobile broadband, or
internet via mobile devices, increased by 60% during the
year. By 2016, Ericsson predicts that mobile broadband
subscriptions will go up to five billion. There are many
examples of how the world is headed into the Networked
Society, where people, business, and society use connected
devices to their benefit. Vestberg presented two examples at
the Annual General Meeting.
Staffan Lorentz from the City of Stockholm, talked about
Stockholm Royal Seaport, where Ericsson is one of many
partners in a project to build a sustainable city of the
future. Ten-thousand people will live and 30-thousand people
are expected to work in the area, which is designed to make
it easy for people to live in a low-carbon,
ecologically-conscious way. Ericsson is an ICT advisor and is
building a network that is used for much more than voice
calls. The other example mentioned by Vestberg was an
electric car charging project, done in collaboration with
Victoria Institute, Göteborg Energi, and Volvo Car
Corporation, where drivers can control the charging of a
Volvo C30 Electric car via a mobile app. An actual car was
parked outside the meeting area for shareholders to see and
touch.
Innovation
Ericsson invested close to SEK 33 billion in 2011 in Research
and Development and employs about 22,000 engineers in R&D.
The company is the largest holder of essential patents for
wireless communication, with over 90 license agreements and
30,000 patents.
During the Annual General Meeting, three employees were
brought onstage and recognized as "Inventors of the
Year." Thomas Cheng, from Ericsson Research in San Jose,
California, USA, Paul Schliwa-Bertling, from Ericsson in
Linköping, Sweden, and Iana Siomina, from Ericsson Research
in Kista, Sweden, are altogether responsible for 275 patent
applications.
Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility Report 2011
Ericsson today publishes its Sustainability and Corporate
Responsibility Report for 2011, Technology for Good.
The report gives examples of Ericsson's performance and
activities in areas such as energy efficiency, in helping to
reduce climate change, as well as its involvement in
endeavors like Refugees United, which works to help refugees
find their loved ones, and Connect to Learn, where Ericsson
provides ICT to enable a 21st century education for secondary
school students, especially girls, in Africa.
The report also highlights Ericsson's longtime commitment
to human rights. Onstage, Hans Vestberg said: "It is our
firm conviction that access to telecommunication is crucial
to ensure human rights - the right to education, health care,
not to mention freedom of expression and democracy."
He summed up by saying: "We have strengthened our
position as the industry leader and I'm convinced that
Ericsson has what it takes to be the driving force in the
Networked Society. Our best assets are our leadership within
technology and services, our global scale, and of course the
fantastic colleagues that we have around the world."
NOTES TO EDITORS
Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility Report
Electric Car Charging Project- Media Kit
Our multimedia content is available at the broadcast room: www.ericsson.com/broadcast_room
Ericsson is the world's leading provider of
communications technology and services. We are enabling the
Networked Society with efficient real-time solutions that
allow us all to study, work and live our lives more freely,
in sustainable societies around the world.
Our offering comprises services, software and
infrastructure within Information and Communications
Technology for telecom operators and other industries.Today
more than 40 percent of the world's mobile traffic goes
through Ericsson networks and we support customers'
networks servicing more than 2 billion subscribers.
We operate in 180 countries and employ more than 100,000
people.Founded in 1876, Ericsson is headquartered in
Stockholm, Sweden. In 2011 the company had revenues of SEK
226,9 billion (USD 35.0 billion). Ericsson is listed on
NASDAQ OMX, Stockholm and NASDAQ, New York stock
exchanges.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT
Ericsson Corporate Public & Media Relations
Phone: +46 10 719 69 92
E-mail: media.relations@ericsson.com
Ericsson Investor Relations
Phone: +46 10719 00 00
E-mail: investor.relations@ericsson.com
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