Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson has joined rival Motorola in issuing a profit warning, announcing an expected loss for the first quarter of this year.
This contradicted a statement from the company in December when it had claimed that, with the exception of its mobile handsets division, all units would see an increase in sales in Q1 2001.
It blamed the announcement on increased uncertainty within the IT sector.
"Customers, in the US in particular, are postponing their capital expenditure. Also in Western Europe, operators in markets with already high penetration are delaying their investments," the company said in a statement.
Ericsson now expects to make "considerably" less money from mobile phone sales in the first quarter of this year than it did in the same period last year.
Last month, Motorola announced that disappointing handset sales, caused in part by an economic downturn in America, could mean that the company would record a loss in Q1 2001.
Market leader Nokia declined to comment last week on rumours that it was about to issue a profit warning of its own.
