国际英语新闻：Ericsson net income up 172 percent in 2010

STOCKHOLM, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Global telecom giant Ericsson announced Tuesday that its net income in 2010 reached 11.2 billion kronor (1.7 billion U.S. dollars), up 172 percent from 2009.

"Net income increased 172 percent to 11.2 billion kronor, mainly due to improvements in earnings in Sony Ericsson and less restructuring charges," said Hans Vestberg, president and CEO of Ericsson.

In the fourth quarter alone, net income reached 4.4 billion kronor (670 million dollars), a staggering 504 percent increase from the 0.7 billion kronor in the same period a year earlier.

Group sales in the quarter rose 8 percent year on year, and 32 percent compared with the previous quarter, mainly driven by a strong development in mobile broadband.

Sales growth resumed in the second half of the year and cash conversion for the full year amounted to 112 percent.

Sales in networks increased 14 percent year over year and 40 percent compared with the previous quarter, primarily driven by increased demand for mobile broadband and investments in 2G expansions in China, Vestberg said in a statement.

Global services sales were seen up 20 percent from the previous quarter but dipped 1 percent year on year, due to lower levels of network rollout following the industry-wide parts shortage earlier in the year as well as a negative impact of a strong kronor.

Vestberg said the strategy to strengthen key markets such as the United States and South Korea with 4G and LTE has been successful during the year.

In 2010, mobile broadband subscriptions increased 30 percent to approximately 500 million, representing some 10 percent of total mobile subscriptions.

"We expect the strong uptake for mobile broadband to continue in 2011, with the number of mobile broadband subscriptions expected to double and hit one billion already this year," said Vestberg.