Ericsson claims twice as much market share as Huawei

Ericsson has said that it increased its market share in mobile infrastructure by four per cent in the past six months, which means it has twice as much of the market as its nearest rival, Huawei.

The firm has increased its market share from 32 per cent in May 2011 to today’s estimated 36 per cent, it said.

At the company’s Capital Markets Day in Stockholm on Wednesday, president and CEO Hans Vestberg will state that the market outlook from May 2011 remains the same. He will add that the growth rate of the company is expected to vary over the coming years, with economic uncertainties in parts of the world, and warned that the firm may be more cautious in its short-term operator spending.

Ericsson also stated that the fundamentals for the mobile infrastructure industry remain solid and it expects major coverage build-outs of mobile broadband in the coming years.

The firm explained that just 35 per cent of the world’s population currently has access to WCDMA/HSPA coverage, but this number is expected to grow to 80 per cent in 2016., Population coverage of LTE is expected increase from two per cent today to 35 per cent in the same time period

“The massive increase in mobile traffic is driven by usage in highly populated areas and 60 per cent of the traffic growth up to 2016 will be generated in metro and urban area,” said the company. “Today, Ericsson has a 43 per cent market share in cities, based on the installed base of mobile networks in the world’s 100 largest cities.”

And as any device with cellular connectivity needs a license to Ericsson’s patents – currently 27,000 patents have been granted to the firm, covering a wide range of technologies – Ericsson is a net receiver of royalties and has some 90 license agreements. With new devices and other industries entering the world of connectivity, Ericsson said that it targets to grow its IPR revenues above the SEK 4.6bn ($700m) net revenue generated in 2010.