Ericsson revealed that is has returned to profitability in the third quarter as a big contract with U.S. carrier, AT&T, boosted the Swedish telecommunications giant’s share price.
There has also been increasing customer momentum in programmable networks that deliver differentiated performance, supported by the joint venture (JV) announced between twelve of the world’s largest telecom operators.
Latest Exclusive: Ericsson's Century of Excellence: Shaping Next-Generation Network
Ericsson posted a net profit of SEK 3.9 billion (USD 374 million) in the quarter after a loss of SEK 30.5 billion over the same period last year.
Last year's loss was reportedly due to a write-down on the value of its purchase of U.S. cloud-based communications operator, Vonage.
Additionally, Ericsson posted an overall sales revenue of SEK 61.8 billion in the third quarter, down 4% from last year.
Both profit and sales revenue were slightly higher than forecasts by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
"Our Q3 results demonstrate our progress, with strong gross margin expansion and free cash flow, benefiting from our commercial discipline and operational efficiency actions," noted Börje Ekholm, Ericsson President and CEO.
“While the market development is ultimately in the hands of our customers, we are working to deliver operational excellence regardless of market conditions,” he continued.
Ericsson’s sales in its ‘Networks’ segment are expected to stabilize year-over-year during Q4, driven by continued good growth in North America. However, further near-term sales pressure in the ‘Enterprise’ segment is anticipated as the telco shifts its focus to more “profitable segments.”
“We launched a new private 5G enterprise product portfolio in Q3 to support performance improvement, which remains a key priority,” pointed out Ekholm.
In the MEA region, stc Group and Ericsson achieved a groundbreaking milestone during Q3 2024 by deploying the world's first implementation of Automated Radio Resource Partitioning (RRP) on a 5G standalone (5G SA) network slice.
Moreover, Ericsson announced a plan to deploy its cutting-edge artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) solutions to significantly reduce energy consumption across Umniah’s network operations in Jordan.
Also Read Previous Quarter Results:
Ericsson Q1 2024: Gross Margin Improvements and Cost Efficiencies
Ericsson in Q2 2024: Taking Proactive Steps for Long-Term Business Success
