Stockholm: Mobile telecom equipment maker Ericsson said its North American mobile broadband business had stabilised as its posted second-quarter sales and operating profit above market expectations on Friday, boosted by its Networks business.
Data traffic growth in telecom operator networks helped sales and profits pick up in its biggest market after a sluggish start of the year, though business activity was still lower there than a year ago, Ericsson said.
Ericsson also pointed to a fast pace of rollouts of 4G networks in China as well as strong sales growth in the Middle East and India.
Operating profit was 3.6 billion Swedish crowns ($422 million) compared to 4.0 billion in the year-ago quarter and above a mean forecast of 2.8 billion crowns in a Reuters poll of analysts.
Operating margin in its key Networks unit, which accounted for just over half of sales last year, hit 8 percent, from just 2 percent in the first quarter.
Sales at Ericsson, the world number one mobile network equipment maker, were 60.7 billion crowns, above a forecast of 58.6 billion. The gross margin was 33.2 percent against a mean forecast of 34.7 percent.
