Ericsson announced that its first-quarter revenues rose by two per cent to SEK52 billion (US$7.9 billion), but that net profits plunged by 86 per cent year-on-year to SEK1.2 billion.

Last year’s divestment of Sony Ericsson had resulted in a one-off gain of SEK 7.7 billion in the previous results. Excluding that, net profits would have risen year-on-year by SEK100 million.

The company narrowly missed most analyst expectations for both revenue and profit figures.

The sales increase was primarily driven by Networks and rollout services, following high project activities primarily in Europe and North America. North America remained the strongest region and showed a growth of 23 per cent despite the decline in CDMA.

North East Asia had a challenging quarter with lower sales in South Korea, which remains one of the most advanced LTE markets.

Apple reported its second-fiscal quarter financial results to end-March, and announced that revenues reached US$43.6 billion compared to US$39.2 billion a year ago.

However, net profit fell to US$9.5 billion compared to US$11.6 billion a year earlier.

Gross margin was 37.5 per cent compared to 47.4 per cent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 66 per cent of the quarter’s revenue.

The company sold 37.4 million iPhones in the quarter, compared to 35.1 million in the year-ago quarter. Apple also sold 19.5 million iPads during the quarter, compared to 11.8 million in the year-ago quarter, and just under four million Macs, compared to four million in the year-ago quarter.

Apple also announced a significant increase to its programme to return capital to shareholders. The company expects to utilise a total of US$100 billion of cash under the expanded program by the end of calendar 2015. This represents a US$55 billion increase to the program announced last year and translates to an average rate of US$30 billion per year from the time of the first dividend payment in August 2012 through December 2015.

Wataniya Telecom, which is 92 per cent owned by Ooredoo, reported quarterly profits of KWD19.5 million (US$68.7 million) for Q113, down 31 per cent from KWD 28.3 million a year ago.

The company ended the quarter with 19.4 million customers, as compared to 18.1 million a year ago.

Wataniya explained that the fall in profits was a result of higher competition in Kuwait, a weak economy in Tunisia and foreign exchange fluctuations in Algeria.

The cellco has subsidiaries in Algeria, Kuwait, Maldives, Saudi Arabia, The Palestinian Territories, and Tunisia.

France Telecom announced that Q113 revenues fell by 5.9 per cent to €10.3 billion (US$13.4 billion), while its EBITDA also fell by nine per cent to €3.1 billion as the company was hurt by intensive competition in its home market.

In France, the decline in mobile services revenues was 2.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2013, affected by price reductions and the development of SIM-only offers. In Spain, revenues rose by 3.3 per cent, led by growth in the fixed broadband and mobile services customer bases. In Poland, the decline in mobile services revenues was limited to 2.2 per cent in Q113, while fixed broadband climbed 9.3 per cent.

In the rest of Europe, revenues increased 2.6 per cent, lifted by mobile Internet browsing and smartphone sales. In Africa and the Middle East revenues grew 3.3per cent, led by Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Guinea and Niger.

The Group added 5.9 million customers year-on-year, taking its total to 229.8 million at the end of March.

In the Enterprise segment, revenues declined 5.3 per cent in Q1 due to intensified competition and difficult economic conditions in Europe.

Capital expenditure of €1.15 billion was up 6.5 per cent, with the acceleration of investment in fixed and mobile high-speed broadband services (fibre and 4G), particularly in France.

Looking ahead, the company confirmed that it is looking at possible acquisitions in its existing markets, but did not outline any possible targets.

Bharti Airtel has announced a deal that will see its Ugandan subsidiary merging with the local Warid Telecom mobile network.

Airtel said that the transaction will further consolidate its position as the second largest mobile operator in Uganda with a combined customer base of over 7.4 million and market share of over 39 per cent.

Airtel currently has 4.6 million customers in Uganda, while Warid has 2.8 million customers.

Speaking on the agreement, Manoj Kohli, MD and CEO (International) of Bharti Airtel said the agreement happens to be the first in-market acquisition in Bharti Airtel’s history.

The agreement is subject to regulatory and statutory approvals.

In mid-2011, Essar Group had attempted to acquire Warid Telecom’s networks in Uganda and Congo but has been forced to cancel the purchase after it was unable to secure regulatory approval for the transaction.

Essar Group agreed to purchase the networks from Warid Telecom in November 2009 for US$318 million, but the two companies cancelled the deal as, “certain condition precedents pertaining to government clearance were not met”.