Ericsson, a leading provider of technology and services to telecom operators, has registered a 12 per cent growth in the Middle East sales year over year, said a senior official.

"We’ve had some major achievements in 2011, and despite the political unrest that still affects the region’s economies and business decisions, we have announced a number of successes with our customers throughout the year," remarked Anders Lindblad, head of Ericsson Region Middle East.

"This is a testament to the region’s potential as a telecommunications hub," Lindblad noted.

“It is through the strong partnerships with the industry’s leaders here in the region that we are advancing our vision of 50 billion connected devices and a truly ‘Networked Society’ globally and here in the Middle East,” he added.

The company, he said, had reported solid sales in the Middle East with strong development in all segments.

'Saudi Arabia developed especially favourably in the quarter although the region was still negatively impacted by political unrest in many countries with operators continuing to be cautious with infrastructure investments,' Lindblad stated.

According to him, LTE is being deployed in parts of the region and WCDMA/HSPA continued to develop positively across the region, resulting in positive networks sales both year-over-year, sequentially and for the full year.

Services also developed favorably since operators are looking into opportunities to increase efficiencies, he added.

Hans Vestberg, president and CEO of Ericsson, said, 'For the full year 2011, we had a strong sales growth and an increase in net income.'

'In the fourth quarter, however, we saw weaker development in Networks, as well as an expected gross margin impact from a changed business mix with more coverage projects, modernization projects in Europe, and a higher services share,' he added.-TradeArabia News Service