LONDON, UK: The incoming chief executive of Ericsson said the company can outpace its rivals in spite of falling sales in the Western world and emerging markets, the Financial Times reported.

India China add big buzz to wireless broadband

Hans Vestberg, who will take up his post as Ericsson's chief executive early next year, said the Swedish company is set to grow faster than its market rivals, including Huawei Technologies, in the coming years, the FT reported.

Vestberg declined to say if he expected sales of mobile network equipment to increase in 2010, compared with this year, but said: "Ericsson believes that telecoms is a growth industry. We definitely should be able to grow faster than the market."

He forecast that the number of mobile phone users would increase to seven billion from 4.5 billion in the next two years, the newspaper said.