(PTI): Ericsson AB says its first-quarter net profit has fallen 35% due to restructuring charges and continued losses from its handset unit Sony Ericsson.

The Stockholm-based company reported Thursday a net profit of 1.7 billion kronor ($210 million) compared with 2.6 billion kronor in the same period in 2008. The wireless equipment maker said its sales rose by 12% to 49.6 billion kronor in the first quarter of 2009.

“The effects of the global economic recession on the global mobile network market are so far limited,” Ericsson Chief Executive Officer Carl-Henric Svanberg said in a statement.

He added that it is hard to predict how operators would react if the economic slowdown continues.

“It remains difficult to more precisely predict how operators will act in the current environment,” he said.