Ericsson CEO: 'This is not a telecom crisis'

“The savings we’re now doing were planned anyway to come during the next several years,” Svanberg said. “We’re accelerating it because we want to make sure we’re prepared for tougher times. … We are not changing our strategy. We are not losing any of our capabilities by doing this.”

Whether Ericsson’s claims of a healthy wireless industry are backed up by the rest of the telecom vendors remains to be seen. Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens Networks, which report earnings on Feb. 2 and Jan. 21, respectively, have predicted a shrinking telecom market in 2009 as operators rein in spending across the world, but both vendors have far more exposure to wireline operators than Ericsson. Perhaps the most ominous sign for telecom vendors, however, was Nortel declaring bankruptcy last week.

However, RBC Capital Markets managing director Mark Sue agreed with Svanberg’s assessment of the relative health of the wireless industry. “Better relative trends are expected in wireless compared to wireline in 2009 as carriers cope with growing traffic growth and continued subscriber growth,” Sue said in a research note. “Ericsson may also gain share from Nortel. We remain concerned related to price competition nonetheless and the pace of upgrades at major carriers; the underperformance at Sony-Ericsson is not helping matters either.”