Mr Svanberg forecasts high single-digit growth in mobile systems

The firm reported a profit of 8.5bn kronor (�0.63bn; $1.09bn), up from 7.3bn in the same period last year.

Total sales were 38.4bn kronor, up 18% on last year as sales at its mobile phone network business grew by 20%.

Ericsson chief executive Carl-Henric Svanberg said that the firm was taking market share from its rivals.

While Ericsson's sales of mobile networks rose 20%, the market as a whole grew by between 12%-13% in the quarter, Mr Svanberg said.

Future prospects

Analysts welcomed the results, which were also boosted by the early booking of a large sale to mobile network operator Cingular of the US.

However, they were less sure of whether Ericsson's performance could be sustained.

But Mr Svanberg was optimistic about growth in the mobile networks market as a whole.

"We believe that we will get growth in the marketplace of higher single digits," he said.

Finnish mobile phone firm Nokia, which also has a mobile networks business, forecast that the mobile infrastructure market would "grow slightly", though it said it planned to do better than the market.