This week Ericsson declared second quarter 2010 financial results showing increase in operating expenses. Ericsson attributed this to integration of the acquired CDMA and GSM businesses, higher investments in certain R&D areas and growing number of 4G/LTE trials.

In the quarter, Ericsson says that it already has started volume deliveries of 4G/LTE in North America region. In USA, Ericsson is supplying LTE equipments to Verizon Wireless and MetroPCS, both of these operators are expected to start LTE services this year. 

The company says that it's multi standard radio base station RBS 6000 has been well received by customers and is now shipping in volumes. There was continued good demand for IP infrastructure based on the SmartEdge platform. The same platform is used in Ericsson’s converged packet gateway which is part of the mobile packet core for 4G/LTE.

Ericsson recently introduced a new base station as part of its TD-LTE offering. Based on the latest multi-standard base station, RBS 6000, the TD-LTE base station offers a highly integrated solution with minimal dimensions and low energy consumption. In addition, the innovation is capable of supporting LTE Advanced technology, promising operators a smooth migration plan.

"Group sales in the quarter declined -8% year-over-year with lower sales in Networks. Sales in Global Services were flat due to decline in network rollout although Professional Services increased 5%," says Hans Vestberg, President and CEO of Ericsson .

During the quarter, Ericsson's 50/50 joint venture ST-Ericsson achieved multiple design wins for its advanced modem solutions - the M570, supporting HSPA+, and the M720, supporting LTE. It announced a partnership with Sagem Wireless for the commercial launch of multimode LTE/HSPA+ products during 2010. 

Nokia recently awarded ST-Ericsson a number of design-wins, selecting its HSPA+ and LTE modem solutions for new products, as well as new design wins related to the U8500 solution.