Total mobile telephone production 225,000 and over half is from Lynchburg. Ericsson has around 3 percent of world market for mobile phones. First GSM phones in service. ISO 9000 quality standard introduced in the Ericsson Group.

The joint venture EHPT with Hewlett Packard is set up. GSM is launched. MATRA-Ericsson GSM partnership dissolved. 200,000 mobile phones produced at Kumla. GE reduces its share in Ericsson-GE Mobile Communications. AXE now chosen by 101 countries. Building begins in Kista of a production plant for submicroelectronic components.

First PCN network, One-to-one, is introduced in the UK. Ericsson supplies first D-AMPS, now TDMA, second-generation mobile system in the US. Ericsson-GE Mobile Communications moves its headquarters to Sweden and renames it Ericsson Mobile Communications. 12 million lines of AXE installed, but Radio Communications Business Area becomes largest in Ericsson.

Takes up first Ericsson operations in Russia since 1917 with Ericsson Corporatic AO. Ericsson acquires the Teli AB group of companies from Telia. First digital PDC mobile system in service in Japan.

World's first GSM 1900 mobile system in service in the US. AXE lines installed exceed 105 million lines in 11 countries and serving 34 million subscribers. A total of 8.5 million lines of MD 100 have been sold. Ericsson acquired 49 percent of Nicola Tesla. The Telia half of Ellemtel was acquired and the company renamed Ericsson Utvecklings AB. New submicroelectronics plant in production.

Mobile systems account for 40 percent of world market, serving a total of 54 million subscribers. Mobile telephones close to 20 percent market share. AXE sold to 117 countries. First ERIEYE surveillance radar system sold outside of Sweden.

Mobile and IP communications increase dramatically. Further restructuring is announced. Major R&D investments, 16 percent of total sales in 1997, begin to pay off. First test systems in Japan for WCDMA, third generation mobile systems. 

AXD 301 ATM switch introduced. Ericsson Acquired Advanced Computer Communication, ACC, and an interest in Mariposa, ATM access router manufacturer. Ericsson enters wireless LAN market. WCDMA standard, largely developed by Ericsson, adopted by ETSI and proposed to the ITU as a world standard. Ericsson CyberLab set up in New York City, Bluetooth consortium formed. Symbian JV for development of EPOS Operating system established with Nokia, Motorola, Panasonic and Psion.  Lars Ramqvist becomes Chairman of the Board and Sven-Christer Nilsson President and CEO.

Ericsson takes about 50 percent of the orders for GPRS. Acquisition of Qualcomm infrastructure division. Other acquisitions included Torrent and Touchwave. Strategic cooperation established with Microsoft and with Juniper. First mobile telephone with EPOC operating system introduced. Sales of mobile telephones picked up dramatically during the last quarter of the year. 70 percent of total sales refer to mobile systems. World's first WAP terminals introduced. In July, Sven-Christer Nilsson stepped down as President and CEO. Lars Ramqvist returned as CEO and Kurt Hellström took over as President.

Ericsson is strengthening the position as the world leader in 3G mobile systems. We are named supplier in 22 out of 33 announced 3G/WCDMA agreements publicly announced. Partnership formed with Microsoft, IBM and Worldcom for development of Mobile Internet applications.

Ericsson and Vodafone are conducting the first 3G/WCDMA call on a public network. We start to ship 3G systems to more than 30 operators and are named as a supplier in 60 percent of all announced WCDMA agreements.

SonyEricsson Mobile communications joint venture launched its operation in October. Ericsson Mobile Platforms, for core technology platforms, is established.

Ericsson Mobility World, 26 centers world-wide, are launched to help operators, developers and content providers collaborate on innovative applications and services.

This is a challenging year for the telecom industry, with orders and sales decline gradually during the year. Ericsson's Efficiency Program is launched.

World's first handover WCDMA to GSM. This is a year for clarity, decisiveness and action.
Kurt Hellström is the CEO that carries Ericsson through these hard times. He announces his retirement at the end of the year.

In March, Carl-Henric Svanberg replaced Kurt Hellström as the CEO. He continues the journey to improve efficiency, grow revenues and increase margins.

The workforce has been reduced from 107.000 to 51 600 in three years.

One billion GSM subscribers were connected in the first quarter, making GSM the fastest growing communications technology of all time. Ericsson is first to introduce managed capacity and hosting services to the telecom market.

We sign the two largest contracts in the Company's history, multi-year agreements  to manage 3's networks in Italty and UK, covering more than 8 million subscribers. We decide to acquire Marconi businesses in optical  transmission, broadband access and related services. We win a number of contracts for next-generation converged networks, including broadband access, IMS/softswitch and packet-switching products.

The mobile phone celebrated its 50th anniversary, the second billion GSM user was connected and we are close the point where every second person in the world has a mobile phone. A breakthrough year for mobile broadband, some 100 commercial HSPA networks in over 50 countries and some 130 HSPA devices have been launched. Our solution for fixed broadband access (VDSL2) was named Best Access Technology at Broadband World Forum 2006.