Ericsson Reports Revenue Drop in 4Q25

Ericsson CEO Borje Ekholm cautioned that continued woes in the RAN market are expected in 2026. He stated that the growth is expected to come from mission-critical and enterprise segments.

The vendor’s revenue fell 5% year-on-year in the final quarter of 2025. Ekholm stated that Ericsson expects a flat RAN market this year, but is well-positioned in the other two segments and plans to increase investments in defense during 2026, while continuing to optimize the cost base to support margins and cash flow generation.

"Results in 4Q25 demonstrated solid execution of strategic priorities, encouraged by organic growth in a flattish RAN market environment, with gains from enterprise and mission-critical applications, along with its 5G core business. R&D investments to extend technology leadership continued, with a focus on AI-native, secure, and autonomous mobile networks,” he said. Ekholm added Ericsson’s board had proposed a dividend increase of SEK3 ($0.33) per share compared with SEK2.85 in 2025 and outlined plans to return SEK15 billion to investors through its first share buyback programme.

Revenue fell to SEK69.3 billion from SEK72.9 billion, blamed mainly on a negative currency impact. Network sales declined 6% to SEK44.2 billion, but Cloud Software and Services sales rose 3% to SEK20 billion. Enterprise sales dropped 25% to SEK4.6 billion, mainly due to a SEK1.1 billion loss from the divestment of iconectiv, which was completed at the back end of the year. Net income hit SEK8.6 billion, up from SEK4.9 billion.

Sales in the Americas fell 11%, reflecting continued intense competition and reduced customer network investments. Europe, the Middle East, and Africa sales grew 7% due to momentum for mission-critical networks. The figure in Southeast Asia was up 6%, driven by accelerated 5G deployments, mainly in Vietnam. Northeast Asia was a dour spot, with sales down 27% because of reduced customer investments in some 5G frontrunner markets.