The demand for telecom equipment rebounded less than expected, and Nokia lowered its annual performance outlook.

CTOnews.com, July 14 (Xinhua)-- Nokia today lowered its full-year performance forecast from 246-26.2 billion euros (CTOnews.com Note: currently about 1970.46-209.862 billion yuan) to 232-24.6 billion euros (currently about 1858.32-197.046 billion yuan) as slowing consumer spending affected telecom equipment sales. At the same time, the operating profit margin is expected to be reduced to 11.5%, 13% from 11.5%, 14%.

▲ Touyuan Pexels Nokia said the downgrade was mainly due to a slowdown in operator customer spending, particularly in North America, although the impact was partly offset by growth in India. Nokia reported preliminary sales of 5.7 billion euros (currently about 45.657 billion yuan) in the second quarter, while analysts estimated average sales of 6 billion euros (currently about 48.06 billion yuan).

At the same time, Ericsson recently announced its adjusted operating profit for the second quarter, excluding restructuring charges of 2.8 billion Swedish kronor (currently about 1.956 billion yuan), down 62% from 7.4 billion Swedish kronor (currently about 5.171 billion yuan) in the same period last year, but still slightly higher than market expectations.

B ö rje Ekholm, president and CEO of Ericsson, said: "despite the challenging market environment, we have achieved stable quarterly results and met expectations with our strong position."

Ekholm pointed out that demand for 5G is growing and the market is expected to experience a "gradual recovery" at the end of 2023 and improve in 2024.

"these companies thought demand would pick up in the second half of the year, especially in North America," kimmo Stenval, an analyst at OP Markets, told Reuters. "but it seems increasingly clear that demand recovery will be delayed until 2024."