Ericsson Manager Sees 3G Phone Prices Falling At Year End

Third-generation mobile phone prices are expected to fall towards the end of the year, helping to spur growth, Sandeep Chennakeshu, head of Telefon AB LM Ericsson's (ERICY) mobile platform division, said Thursday.

"What I've heard from operators is they want to see terminals in the range of $150 to $200 by the end of this year, the beginning of next year," Chennakeshu said at an investor conference hosted by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEH) in New York. "That's what we're working towards," he said in a Web cast of the presentation.

The Ericsson Mobile Platforms division offers handset makers platforms for designing and manufacturing handsets - last month, French mobile phone maker Sagem agreed to develop 3G handsets using the EMP platform.

The company expects 32 handsets this year to be based on its platforms, up from 23 in 2004. Of those, the number of 3G phones is seen doubling to 20 from 10, Ericsson said in the slides accompanying the presentation.

Ericsson is the world's largest maker of wireless telecommunications equipment and is also a partner with Sony Corp. (SNE) in Sony Ericsson, the No.6 mobile phone maker.

Company Web site: http://www.ericsson.com

-By Taska Manzaroli; Dow Jones Newswires; +49 30 2888 410; taska.manzaroli@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires"

Posted to the site on 2nd June 2005