In another galaxy, far from here, is a roundabout.

Next to it, a glass entrance.

And in there, intelligent life.

But a reality that is not in the least reminiscent of ours.

It is about Ericsson, one of Sweden's largest companies.

In the midst of a burning pandemic, and, literally, a burning climate crisis, our world has been put to the test, not least economically.

Corona-closed factories, unavoidable journeys, digitization and electrification have resulted in profits, redundancies, redundancies and canceled dividends.

And, perhaps worse, the future beyond the pandemic seems very uncertain.

But not inside Ericsson's glass office.

There seems to be what can best be described as 5G dizziness.

Contracts are signed on an assembly line.

When CEO Börje Ekholm presented Ericsson's quarterly report on Wednesday, he talked about 113 contracts for 5G equipment, while there were 112 on the power point picture, which should probably be fairly newly produced.

Easier for Ericsson to grow

The United States is fully expanding the next generation of mobile networks.

Europe is on its way, most recently Sweden, where the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency yesterday announced which telecom operators will be allowed to fight for the 5G space.

On Tuesday, Sweden also became another country that excludes Ericsson's main competitor, Chinese Huawei, from the expansion of 5G.

This is so that the Chinese state will not be able to access data in the networks.

In the past, Ericsson's largest market, the USA, has done the same.

This has probably made it easier for Ericsson to grow and take on new contracts, with higher profitability.

Börje Ekholm eagerly denies that Ericsson in any way benefited from avoiding Chinese competitors in important markets.

He says that Ericsson has mainly taken market shares from competitors other than Huawei.

It can be worse not to be allowed to sell to China at all

He has good reasons to point this out.

China is an important and profitable market for Ericsson and above all a growing market for 5G.

Already on Wednesday, China reacted to the Swedish 5G ban on Chinese suppliers.

It can be much worse for Ericsson not to be allowed to sell to China at all, than to be without the Chinese competitors in the US and parts of Europe.

It can also delay the 5G expansion.

The Swedish telecom operators that will be allowed to operate 5G networks must, in addition to ordering from, for example, Ericsson or Nokia, also ensure that they remove equipment from Huawei and ZTE that they already have, by 2025.

Telia, which also presented its interim report on Wednesday, announced that Ericsson and Nokia will build their 5G network.

They are thus not affected at all by the ban on Huawei and ZTE according to the CEO.

Telia has been negatively affected by the pandemic

But they have equipment from Huawei in the transmission network.

What it costs to get rid of it can not Telia can not answer today, but says that it is about "limited impact".

Telia has been negatively affected by the pandemic when it comes to roaming and TV advertising, but now it will still be an extraordinary general meeting for shareholders to receive the entire dividend planned before the pandemic.

Ericsson happily distributed the entire dividend as planned already this spring.

And the announcement of profits means that it looks brighter than in at least a decade.

The gross margin took a giant step up to 43 percent.

This is the highest since 2006, when Ericsson recovered well from its worst crisis.

Those who got the then Ericsson boss to name the roundabout at the glass office in Kista "Ericsson Turnaround".