Telecom network vendor Ericsson today said its Q1 2015 revenue increased 13 percent to SEK 53.5 billion, while net income dipped 14 percent to SEK 1.5 billion.

Ericsson India revenue in Q1 2015 increased 108 percent to SEK 3.5 billion with networks business contributing SEK 2.1 billion and SEK 1.1 billion.

Globally, Ericsson generated SEK 26.4 billion revenue from networks, SEK 23.9 billion from global services and SEK 3 billion from support solutions. The growth of networks was 8 percent, global services 17 percent and support solutions 11 percent.

The fast pace of 4G deployments in Mainland China will continue and the North American mobile broadband business to remain slow in the short term. Q1 2015 revenue growth was flat at SEK 12.2 billion with networks contributing SEK 5.2 billion and SEK 6.3 billion from global services.

Hans Vestberg, president and CEO of Ericsson, said the company signed 27 managed services contracts in the first quarter of 2015, including a major multi-country contract in Europe.

Networks mobile broadband business in North America continued to be slow as operators remained focused on cash flow optimization in order to finance major acquisitions and spectrum auctions. The decline in North America was partly offset by a continued fast pace of 4G deployments in Mainland China.

Consumer demand and mobile data traffic growth continued to be strong in North America, creating further need for quality and capacity investments.

Ericsson will reduce the number of consultants in Sweden by 850. This is in addition to elimination of 2,200 positions in Sweden.

In line with the growth strategy, Ericsson is investing in targeted areas; IP networks, Cloud, OSS & BSS, TV & Media and Industry & Society.

Ericsson employees

The number of employees on March 31, 2015 is 118,706 compared with 118,055 on December 31, 2014. The majority of the increase is related to India, following a large new countrywide managed services contract. The number of Ericsson services professionals on March 31, 2015 was 66,000 (65,000 December 31, 2014).

Baburajan K
[email protected]