Ericsson prospers on 5G takeoff

The world's mobile phone networks are being upgraded for 5G.

The next-generation service will offer much faster data speeds.

And that looks like being good news for Ericsson.

The Swedish telecom gear maker beat forecasts on Thursday (October 17).

It says 5G is catching on faster than it expected.

Ericsson lifted its outlook for the year by about ten percent as a result.

It now expects sales of up to 24.5 billion dollars.

One surprise though.

Ericsson says it's not seeing any benefit from the woes of its big rival.

Huawei - the largest maker of telecoms equipment - is blacklisted by the U.S. over allegations it cooperates with Chinese spies.

That's something the firm strongly denies.

But Australia and New Zealand have joined the U.S. in banning the Chinese firm from their 5G networks.

Some analysts thought that would let Ericsson cash in.

But chief executive Borje Ekholm says that's not the case.

He says all it's done is create worry and uncertainty in the market - to everyone's detriment.