India, China pull Ericsson's revenue up 9% in Jul-Sept

Company's revenue stood at $7.9 billion as compared to $7.2 billion in the corresponding quarter last year

Telecom gear maker Ericsson today posted a 9% increase in sales in the July-Sept quarter at SEK 57.6 billion ($7.9 billion), with India reporting the highest growth along with other emerging markets like Middle East, China and Russia.

The company's revenues stood at SEK 53 billion ($7.2 billion) in the corresponding quarter last year.

Sales from India grew 56% to SEK 2 billion ($0.27 billion), while that from Middle East 38% (SEK 6 billion) and North East Asia at 16% (SEK 7 billion).

However, the Swedish firm's net income declined 19% to SEK 2.6 billion in the quarter under review from SEK 3 billion in the same period last year.

"The sales growth year-over-year was mainly driven by the Middle East, China, India and Russia, but was partly offset by lower sales in North America," Ericsson President and CEO Hans Vestberg said in a statement.

Mobile broadband sales increased as the company has started delivering on key contracts, he added.

"We are executing on 4G/LTE contracts in Mainland China and Taiwan and improving sales in Japan. Furthermore, the investment climate in India continues to improve," he said.

On profitability, Vestberg said there was stable improvement across all segments.

This was primarily driven by favourable business mix, higher IPR revenues as well as efficiency enhancements, he added.

"We continue to execute on our strategic agenda; to improve our profitability in the core business in order to invest in targeted areas such as IP networks, Cloud, TV & Media and OSS & BSS," he said.

Ericsson said since end of last year, sales in the India region has recovered, mainly driven by an increase in operator capex spending in response to greater data uptake.

"The year-on-year growth in support solutions is driven by OSS and BSS and TV and Media," it added.