Ericsson expects North America slowdown as Q4 sales lag forecasts

Stockholm

TELECOMS equipment maker Ericsson expects business in its key North American market to remain slow in the short term, with its biggest customers largely finished on building their 4G networks and saving cash for acquisitions and spectrum auctions.

The cooling of the once torrid US market caused Ericsson, which competes with China's Huawei, Finland's Nokia and France's Alcatel-Lucent, to report fourth-quarter sales below expectations on Tuesday, with comparable sales down 2 per cent.