Ericsson seeing no material impact from pandemic: CEO

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Ericsson’s top executive Borje Ekholm said on Tuesday the Swedish telecom equipment maker had seen no material impact on its business from the global coronavirus outbreak.

In the text of a speech for Tuesday’s annual general meeting, which has been shortened to mitigate the risk of spreading the disease among shareholders, Ekholm also said Ericsson’s balance sheet was robust in the face of the crisis.

“So far, we have not seen any material impact on our business, but we are closely following the developmentsin society,” Ekholm said in the statement.

Ekholms’ speech had been pre-recorded as no speeches will be given in person at the shareholders meeting.

Ekholm also said that the market for 5G mobile technology was growing faster than most analysts had expected.

(Reporting by Niklas Pollard; editing by Johannes Hellstrom)