­Ericsson has reported a net loss of SEK6.3 billion (US$990 million) after it was hit by a write down of SEK8 billion on its ST-Ericsson joint-venture and took a tax charge of SEK500 million.

Revenues for the quarter rose by 5 percent to SEK 66.9 billion ($10.5 billion) as the recently acquired Telcordia operation added sales of SEK 1.1 billion in the quarter, split 50/50 between segments Global Services and Support Solutions.

Ericsson’s CEO, Hans Vestberg commented: “During the year profitability was negatively impacted by operating losses in ST-Ericsson, the ongoing network modernization projects in Europe as well as the underlying business mix,with a higher share of coverage projects than capacity projects.”

For the full year, revenues were flat YoY at SEK 227.8 billion (US$35.8 billion) with growth in Global Services and Support Solutions, while Networks sales declined partly due to the 40% decline of CDMA equipment sales.

­Fitch Ratings says LG Electronics still faces an unfavourable macro-economic environment and intensifying competition in its core businesses, notwithstanding the turnaround in the company’s operating results and financial profile during 2012.

LGE reported an EBIT margin of 2.2% (2011: 0.7%) and EBITDA grew 65%, lowering gross debt to KRW6.5trn at end-2012 from KRW7.4trn at end-2011. LG Display, a key subsidiary, returned to profitability with an EBIT margin of 3.1% in 2012 while almost doubling its EBITDA to KRW5.4trn. As a result, Fitch estimates LGE’s financial leverage to have improved to about 2.5x at end-2012 from 4.4x at end-2011. In its analysis, Fitch proportionally consolidates LGE’s two major operating subsidiaries, LG Display and LG Innotek.

South Korea’s LG Electronics has posted a fourth-quarter loss of KRW468 billion (US$429 million) which reflects a fine related to the cathode-ray tube pricing issues imposed by the European Commission in December. Fourth quarter 2012 consolidated revenues were KRW 13.50 trillion.

The LG Mobile Communications Company reported a 7 percent unit increase quarter-on-quarter in mobile handset shipments to 15.4 million with more than half of the units coming from smartphones.

Samsung Galaxy Camera

Samsung Galaxy S111 Mini

Samsung Electronics, the world’s leading electronic manufacturer has assured its consumers in Nigeria of an exciting 2013 with the introduction of innovative products that will add value to their lives. Among the products that the company’s top executives believe will shape the coming year are the newly introduced Samsung Galaxy S III Mini, which is a compact version of its rave-making flagship phone, Galaxy S III, and the recently unveiled ‘connected camera’, Samsung Galaxy Camera.

Global Mobile Ecosystem

Nokia Growth Partners (NGP), a global venture firm, today announced the launch of its third fund with a further US$250 million long term commitment from Nokia.

Nokia Growth Partners will continue to invest in high potential businesses within the mobile ecosystem in the U.S., Europe and Asia. NGP also announced its expanded presence in China with the appointments of David Tang as managing director and Lu Guo as principal.

“Over the past decade, Nokia has developed an innovative venturing strategy,” said Timo Ihamuotila, Nokia executive vice president & chief financial officer. “Our ongoing commitment to Nokia Growth Partners reinforces Nokia’s support for a vibrant mobile ecosystem and our determination to collaborate with industry innovators to build great mobile products.”

­Nokia has released its fourth-quarter and full year financial reports – and announced that for the fourth-quarter of the year, revenues fell by 20% to EUR8.04 billion (US$10.7 billion), and net profits jumped to EUR255 million (US$340 million) compared to a loss of EUR1.08 billion a year ago.

For the full year, sales were down by 22 percent to EUR30.18 billion, but the net loss came in at EUR3.8 billion.

­Fitch Ratings says that India-based Bharti Airtel’s financial profile could improve in the year ending March 2014 (FY14), aided by manageable spectrum payments and the likely return of pricing power. This is despite the persistence of regulatory uncertainty over the final auction price of the 900MHz spectrum in March 2013.

Fitch believes that Bharti’s effort in January 2013 to improve its voice tariff realisation by removing discounts in phases will help the company to deleverage in FY14. Fitch believes that this move indicates a likely first sign of a return in pricing power, as competitive intensity abates due to the exit of some operators, on-going operating losses for weaker telcos and high spectrum prices.

­Worldwide mobile advertising revenue is forecast to reach $11.4 billion in 2013, up from $9.6 billion in 2012, according to Gartner. Worldwide revenue will reach $24.5 billion in 2016 with mobile advertising revenue creating new opportunities for app developers, ad networks, mobile platform providers, specialty agencies and even communications service providers in certain regions.

“The mobile advertising market took off even faster than we expected due to an increased uptake in smartphones and tablets, as well as the merger of consumer behaviors on computers and mobile devices,” said Stephanie Baghdassarian, research director at Gartner. “Growth in mobile advertising comes in part at the expense of print formats, especially local newspapers, which currently face much lower ad yields as a result of mobile publishing initiatives.”

The global telecommunications industry was not immune to economic forces in 2012 that slowed growth from earlier predictions, according to a new market analysis report from Insight Research. Spending for wireline services contracted in 2012, while spending on wireless services grew modestly.

­According to the new industry market study, telecommunications services revenue worldwide will grow from $2.2 trillion in 2012 to $2.7 trillion in 2018 at a combined average growth rate of 3.8 percent.

The report notes that wireless subscriber growth compounded with rising usage will raise wireless revenues by 31 percent from current levels, yet wireline revenues will remain flat until substantial economic recovery kicks in. Despite these modest gains, there are some sectors, such as Ethernet, Cloud, and Mobile Solutions, that will show double-digit annual percentage growth.

Yousef Abu Mutawe, CTO, Zain, Jordan will deliver the opening keynote on Day Two of the Broadband MEA Conference, taking place in March 2013 in Dubai, UAE. Ahead of the show, Mutawe talks about Zain’s activities in 2012 and challenges of 2013.

Major Developments in Broadband Industry for Zain in 2012

In the past year, the major step for Zain was the introduction of HSPA+, which delivered a significant speed boost for customers with compatible devices. With an eye on continuing evolution, we have also begun some LTE trials. On the fixed line side, we have started rolling out Ethernet-to-the-Home (ETTH) and Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH).