Ericsson are the latest to release their financial performance figures for last year, and - as you might expect for a company with fingers in many different cellular pies - it’s a mixture of highs and lows.  In terms of handsets, Sony Ericsson shipped 30.8m in Q4 2007, an 18-percent increase on Q4 2006, with SE crediting the new high-end Walkman and Cybershot models for pushing average selling price (ASP) up slightly sequentially, although overall ASP reduced by 14-percent thanks to a greater number of entry-level and budget handsets.  Net income increased 12-percent from 2006 to 2007, of which Ericsson’s pre-tax share was SEK5.1bn ($0.8bn) for the year.

Despite that, sales in Western Europe and North America both declined over 2007, reducing by 1-percent and 15-percent respectively; strong sales to T-Mobile US, however, meant North America Q4 sales increased by 9-percent. 

“The mobile networks market growth slowed during the year. As expected, our sales in the quarter were affected by political unrest in certain emerging markets”Carl-Henric Svanberg, CEO, Ericsson

Interestingly, in the worldwide 3G networks monitored by Ericsson, data traffic now exceeds voice traffic.  Sales in networks increased by just 1-percent over the year, but network rollout services increased by a whopping 61-percent sequentially.  Ericsson are pledging to save SEK4bn ($0.63bn) by 2009, including 1,000 job losses in Sweden.

Overall, net sales for the company are up 4-percent, amounting to a total of SEK187.8 ($29.5) billion.

[via TheNewsMarket]