Ericsson Loses Third-Biggest Handset Maker Title

The problems facing Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson were underlined on Thursday when it lost its title of the world’s third-largest mobile phone maker to Germany’s Siemens AG.

Siemens said it sold 6.9 million mobile phones in the January-March period against Ericsson’s 6.2 million units.

Ericsson last week reported a 4.9 billion crown ($482.8 million) pre-tax loss for the first quarter and warned it would have a similar deficit in the second quarter. It is cutting some 22,000 jobs or one fifth of its workforce to reduce costs.

“Siemens has for the first time taken the third position on the world market,” the Germany company said in a statement. “In the first quarter of this year Siemens sold 6.9 million handsets worldwide.”

No-one at Ericsson was immediately available for comment.

The world’s leader in mobile phones is Finland’s Nokia , which approaches a 40 percent market share, followed by Motorola of the United States. Ericsson estimates the mobile phone market at between 430-480 million units this year.