Driven by growth in emerging Asian markets and a continued strong performance from its Sony Ericsson mobile-phone joint venture, Swedish teleco handset maker Ericsson reported a 12 percent increase in profits for the second quarter. Despite this increase it is lower than analysts had expected, in part due to softer than expected numbers from Europe and continued delays with some large multimedia profits.

Ericsson expects the GSM/WCDMA sector within the global market systems market to continue to show growth in 2007, and in June the company signed a deal with China Mobile to provide telecom-network equipment in 19 regions.

[Via The Wall Street Journal]