Weak demand for new network capacity did not prevent Ericsson from boosting its profits in the first quarter of this year.

The telecoms giant doubled its net income between January and March to €979 million from €461 million during the same period last year.

Although the company reported a net profit improvement, sales within its networks division fell by 18 percent in the first quarter. It revealed that greater demand for network modernisation offset weak demand for new capacity in countries in Europe and the US.

Ericsson revealed that its clients continued to switch to LTE networks from 3G technology, while its share price rose by 3 percent at the start trading on Wednesday after news of the first quarter net profit increase surfaced.

Chief executive Hans Vestberg said: "Sales of high-performance mobile broadband developed well in North America, Japan and Korea, while other regions such as Europe including Russia, parts of Middle East and India were weaker."