The world's largest mobile network infrastructure equipment vendor announced its 2006 Annual Report. Both revenues (+15%) and operating income were up from a year ago.

It seems obvious that Ericsson's strategy of concentrating on networks as a whole (both fixed and wireless) and services, as well as a strong fiscal year at SonyEricsson - the mobile phone JV - has contributed to this increase. At the same time major rivals Siemens and Alcatel were busy with their mergers while Motorola lost momentum. The years 2007 and 2008 will be interesting to watch though, as the joint ventures of its rivals shape up and new entrants in the mobile phone market with Apple could start hurting. Last but not least, will the 4G battle between LTE and WiMAX start to be played out in the market - here Ericsson has put all its bets on the relatively complex and expensive LTE.