PRE TAX profits at the Irish operations of the Swedish telecommunications company, L.M. Ericsson rose by 25 per cent to £12.1 million on a turnover of £106.5 million in the year to last December.

The Irish division's biggest contract at present involves the building of a £26 million GSM mobile phones network in Libya. The firm plans to employ an extra 100 people in Ireland this year.

Ericsson's links with Ireland will be further strengthened on May 8th, when former EU Commissioner, Mr Peter Sutherland, joins the multinational's main board.

Ericsson's Irish arm, which is not a manufacturing operation, paid £1.3 million in tax last year. A dividend of £4 million was remitted to its parent. The company says no transfer pricing was involved. Profits retained in Ireland since Ericsson entered this market stood at £42 million at the end of last year.

The Swedish firm which is chiefly engaged in design, marketing and engineering, has three operating companies in Ireland. They employ a total of 1,160 people, nearly 800 of them graduates.

One division deals with designing software and international training. Another arm deals with public telecommuications systems for Telecom Eireann and for export. A third section services branch exchanges for business customers in Ireland.

Ericsson plans to add an extra 100,000 sq ft of office space in Ireland, this year.

Hardware purchased from Irish companies, including the Omnitron plant in Athlone which Ericsson hived off to management in 1989, was valued at £40 million last year. A $20 million supplies contract has been agreed between Ericsson and Omnitron.

Telecommunications is a fast growing market. Fixed networks business is growing at 7 to 8 per cent per annum. Mobile telephony is growing at a rate of 30 per cent a year, is to join the main board of Ericsson in Sweden, at its a.g.m. this month.

Since last year, Mr Sutherland has been on the board of Investor, the firm at the heart of Sweden's Wallenberg industrial empire. Investor has a controlling stake in several Swedish multinationals including Ericsson, Saab-Scania, Astra and Electrolux.

The Swedish Swiss engineering giant, Asea Brown Boveri, and 44 per cent of the Swedish stock exchange, is Wallenberg controlled. Mr Sutherland is the first foreigner on the Investor board.

Ericsson has 85,500 employees worldwide and a group turnover of £10 billion. The international dimension has brought opportunities for the Irish subsidiary Ericsson Ireland recently won a major contract in South Africa, through the relationship with its parent. Ericsson has 40 per cent of the world market in mobile phone infrastructure and about 10 per cent of the market in hand sets.

Ericsson Ireland operates in a number of countries including Iran, Lebanon, Nigeria, Russia and the CIS.

Its software design division in Ireland has recently been given full responsibilities for developing its AXE switching system.

In the area of technology training, the International Customer Training Centre (ICTC) in Dun Laoghaire is the group's centre for developing and marketing advanced multi media training products. These incorporate sound, video and animation.

The ICTC section has led experimentation in video conferencing technology. This allows for the delivery of distance learning to "virtual classrooms" as far away as Australia.