Vestberg anticipates 1bn broadband users in 2011

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Ericsson president and CEO Hans Vestberg spoke about the importance of telecom in the development of society as a whole, how communications services are broadening, and about Ericsson's position in the market, at Ericsson's Annual General Meeting of shareholders in Ericsson Globe annex.

"2010 was the year mobile broadband broke through. Today we have exceeded 500 million mobile broadband subscriptions, and before the end of 2011, there will be one billion subscriptions. Growth continues and by 2016, there are expected to be five billion subscriptions," he said.

Hans Vestberg presented the results for 2010, and spoke about the natural catastrophes during 2010 which illuminated the importance of telecommunications during crises and rescue efforts. After the Haiti earthquake in January 2010, Ericsson Response completed one of its longest and largest field activities since the volunteer organization started assisting the United Nations in emergency situations in 2000.

Ericsson is currently assisting its customers in Japan in order to assure that mobile networks are functioning. Fredrik Alatalo, president of Ericsson Japan, joined the shareholder meeting via video conference, live from Tokyo.

Vestberg underscored the focus on being first in driving new technology, and in seeing to it that Ericsson drives standards that the telecom industry builds on. Patents and trade in licensing contracts generate income for the company. Ericsson has 27,000 granted patents and during last year invested SEK 30 billion in research and development.

Ericsson's prize for Inventor of the Year was awarded during the meeting. Hans Vestberg awarded Muhammad Kazmi, Robert Baldemair and Jacob Österling, the three inventors who sought a total of 234 patents on Ericsson's behalf. Kazmi and Baldemair worked on inventions that led to patents in LTE. Österling is one of the main architects of multi-standard radio base station RBS 6000, one of Ericsson's most successful product launches in the market.

Vestberg concluded his speech by underlining the development within the telecom industry and pointed out that it took 100 years to build one billion fixed telephone lines, however only 25 years to reach more than five billion mobile subscriptions.

Today, mobile systems cover some 85 per cent of the world's population. Mobile broadband continues to grow and that creates new opportunities for Ericsson to expand its business to new industries, for example governments and companies within healthcare, transport, utilities, and within mobile money services.

"It is clear that Ericsson will continue to be the driver in this market. We are strong and confident. We defend and extend our technology leadership, our market leadership and our power of innovation. And so we have a solid foundation for continued strong financial development," concluded Hans Vestberg.