mr. vestberg, first of all, welcome to las vegas. >> guest: thank you. >> host: and if you would, tell us about the ericsson company. >> guest: the ericsson company was found in 1876, and we have since then been the world leader in telecommunication equipment, first in fixed, now in mobile. today 40% of all mobile networks in the world are ericsson mobile networks supporting operators. we have roughly 100,000 employees worldwide, we are based in 180 countries. so we are a company that are doing research and development, getting out products in order to enable the mobile broadband and mobility networks all around the world. we spend roughly $4.5 billion u.s. a year for research and development. >> host: where are you based, and how large in the u.s.? >> guest: we're base inside sweden, it's a swedish company since its inception, however, u.s. is by far our largest market both on volume wise, but also one of the largest -- [inaudible] we have some 15-16,000 -- [inaudible] in the north american market today. >> host: now, when mobile phones in the u.s. started to become ubiquitous, the erics

mr. vestberg, when mobile phones in the u.s.rted to become ubiquitous the ericsson name was a familiar brand name, but not today. why is that? >> i think in the beginning of the mobile networks, the mobile phone was an extension of the networks. so we actually started the network with ericsson mobile phones and then after a couple of years we merged with soa ericsson and made a venture with sony erickson that has been going on for 20 years, and in october timeframe last year we decided to speak up and we are actually selling that back. so, sony will have the handset business that we were part of before so we are leaving the handset. we were part of it from the beginning because it was an extension of the mobile network. today the mobile phone is so much more than an extension of the network. >> why are you leaving the joint venture with sony ericsson? >> the mobile phone hasn't grown so much and today more than the voice gadgets. it's a lifestyle gadget. ericsson is developing what's inside. so we are developing fetus inside of

mr. vestberg, welcome to last -- las vegas. >> it was founded in 1876 and we have been the world leader in telecommunication equipment. today 40% of all mobile networks in the world are mobile networks supporting operators. we have roughly 100,000 employees worldwide. we are in 180 countries. so we are a company that is doing research and development and getting contracts to grow mobility all around the world. $4 billion a year in research and development. >> where are you based and how large in the u.s.? >> we are based in sweden. it is a swedish company, however u.s. is our largest market, both volume wise. we have 16,000 employees in the north american market today. >> when mobile phones in the u.s. started to become the thing, the ericsson was a brand name but not today, why is that? >> in the beginning of the mobile networks, the mobile phone was an extension of the networks. we actually started the mobile networks, there was a brand name. after a year, couple of years we made a joint venture with sony that has been going on for 10 years. in october time frame, we are selling that bac