The Swedish manufacturer of wireless networking gear, Ericsson AB, reported Thursday weaker-than-expected profits for the third-quarter, citing declined demand for its products due to continuous fragile economic conditions.

Swedish wireless equipment maker Ericsson has won an auction of the wireless assets of Nortel Networks by agreeing to pay US$1.13 billion for the Canadian company's CDMA business, making rival Nokia to leave the arena.

Speaking on the rumors that Ericsson would part with Sony, Ericsson's CFO Hans Vestberg said the company would not end its joint venture with Sony.

LM Ericsson will manage Sprint Nextel Corp.'s wireline and wireless communication network systems, provided through $5 billion agreement, signed between the two companies.

The third largest U.S. wireless carrier, Sprint Nextel Corp., will pay Ericsson $5 billion to manage its networks.