Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
Our first question today comes from Edward Snyder of Charter Equity Research. Please go ahead. Mr. Snyder, Mr. Edward Snyder, your line is open to ask a question.
We will take our next question from Mark Sue of RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Mark Sue – RBC Capital Markets
Thank you. Recognizing what’s driving your full-year guidance, can you perhaps give us your thoughts on how we might see seasonality develop for 2009? And also maybe if you could tell us which regions you feel most comfortable with, and conversely which regions you are concerned with from a growth point of view as we start the New Year? Thank you.
Carl-Henric Svanberg
Let me just remind you of the obvious in our report. We are concluding that fundamentals are in place for continued investment in our space, but there are higher uncertainties due to the very dramatic economic decline that we usually see, and that is why we are more focused on presenting how we see things, and presenting what we do to makes sure that we stay competitive and get decent margins even in a tougher scenario. So with that said, there is nothing fundamental that should be out there changing seasonality. But with a larger uncertainty, I guess that could influence even that part. And I don’t think that there is any fees or any particular factor that could make one country more or less attractive than it would normally be. One can of course argue that the countries with very sharp declining local currencies, an operator, some of them depending on how they have structured their balance sheet, could have lesser capacity to invest. I mean that is a clear one. But I think it is also clear that these markets tend to be the fast-growing ones in terms of subscriptions. And everybody knows that this is a competitive game where it is about grabbing market share. So anyone that hesitates on their build outs would immediately lose to someone that is more aggressive. So even that has its pros and cons. I don’t think there is anything in the situation otherwise that would change an normal year.
Mark Sue – RBC Capital Markets
Okay. And Carl-Henric, you didn’t mention anything about swapping out Nortels here, is there a plan in place for that?
Carl-Henric Svanberg
Well absolutely yes, in the sense that if you look at where we were in 2003 with a market share of 30 plus some, and there were 12 competitors. Today there are maybe 3,4 strong ones left, and we have well over 40. All of that is market share growth as a result of companies leaving or contracting here, and Nortel is one of them. So obviously Nortel’s market share is gradually picked up. I guess we haven’t seen the analyst story of Nortel yet. They are doing Chapter 11 and they may come back in a new format or sell bits and pieces, but certainly that’s market share expansion opportunity.
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