Ericsson announces new mobile phones forecast for the millennium

Ericsson announces new mobile phones forecast for the millennium Today Ericsson's CEO, Sven-Christer Nilsson, announced the company's forecast for the 1998-2000 global mobile phone market at an analyst meeting in Tokyo. Ericsson expects that the global mobile phone market will exceed 140 million units by the end of this year, growing to 200 million during 1999, and 265 million units by the year 2000. The upgraded forecast is higher than Ericsson presented earlier this year, one reason being that new pre-paid operator services are increasing in all markets. New prepaid services is driving the demand for mobile phones. During 1997 operators around the world launched 72 new prepaid services. Already for the first half of 1998 the equivalent figure is 111. "This new forecast emphasises the continuing strong growth of the mobile phone markets in US, Europe and Asia Pacific, well past 2000," said Sven-Christer Nilsson, CEO of Ericsson. "The growth rate emphasises that mobile telephony is gaining momentum especially in the TDMA technology," Sven-Christer Nilsson continued. Global information about Ericsson and its products is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.ericsson.se Ericsson´s 100,000 employees are active in more than 130 countries. Their combined expertise in fixed and mobile networks, mobile phones and infocom systems makes Ericsson a world-leading supplier in telecommunications. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT Jan Ahrenbring, Vice President Marketing and Communications Ericsson Mobile Communications AB Tel + 46 8 764 1460 or + 46 70 590 9900