Swedish maker of network equipment Ericsson joined the earnings seasons chorus and revealed the figures for its second quarter. The company stated sales grew by 2% in the second quarter and totalled 48.5 billion Swedish Kronor, compared to 47.6 billion Kronor in the same period last year. Operating income was punctured, ruptured and deflated by 49% and fell from 9.3 billion to 4.7 billion Kronor. Ericsson's net income suffered horribly, as one can presume. The company earned its owners 1.9 billion Kronor, 70% less than it made back in 2007 when it posted income of 6.4 billion Kronor.

Ericsson said sales growth is 7% in constant currencies year over year and that the weak US Dollar is to blame for making it look a bad 2%. Operating profit and net income were hit by restructuring costs of 1.8 billion Kronor in the quarter. The company expects restructuring to cost 4 billion Kronor in the full year.

Network sales shrunk by 1% year-over-year from 33.7 billion Kronor to 33.3 billion. However, sales in the division grew 11% when compared to the first quarter, in which network equipment worth 30 billion Kronor was sold.

Sony Ericssons lacklustre performance also bothered the company, as sales contracted by 9%. Sony Ericsson released its earnings last Friday. http://www.itexaminer.com/sony-ericsson-falls-on-its-nose.aspx

Ericsson expects flat growth for mobile infrastructure, whereas all shall be well in the professional services market. The company also shared its figures for markets worldwide and said 170 million new punters became happy customers of mobile operators, bringing subscriptions worldwide to a total of 3.66 billion. Fixed broadband subscriptions are now estimated to be 352 million. X