Boosting Ericsson's share of an increasingly consolidated market may not be an easy task for Chief Executive Officer Carl-Henric Svanberg. In the past months, the industry has seen Lucent merge with Alcatel and Nokia and Siemens combine its network businesses, partly triggered by Ericsson's decision to acquire Britain's Marconi last year. Such mergers could put the heat on Ericsson.

Ericsson's chief executive Carl-Henric Svanberg speaks during an Ericsson shareholders meeting in Stockholm April 10, 2006. [Reuters]

However, Svanberg, in an interview with China Daily, said he is confident that Ericsson will continue to hold onto its leading position in the telecom equipment market, as well as the top spot in China, which has been coveted by rivals such as Alcatel, Nokia and Siemens.

That's because Ericsson, since spinning off its handset business to form a joint venture with Sony, has been focusing on the telecom equipment market and investing more than any of its rivals in related technologies and research and development (R&D), Svanberg explained.

And as Alcatel, Lucent, Nokia and Siemens are busy integrating their businesses, that might open a door for Ericsson to grab new business opportunities and expand its market share.

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