ERICSSON AB is expanding beyond its roots in network hardware to sell more software and services, aiming to get more revenue from wireless carriers as data traffic quadruples over the next five years.

Ericsson, the largest maker of wireless networks, expects smartphone subscriptions to more than triple by 2018 to 4.5 billion worldwide from last year, according to a report released yesterday. The surge in smartphones will cause the average data consumed per customer to increase fourfold to about 2 gigabytes in 2018, according to the report.

"The trends are very clear in this report: There will be more and more video and data traffic, and from our point of view we will do more of the things to help carriers with this," said Johan Wibergh, head of the Stockholm-based company's networks operations.

Ericsson faces challenges from traditional rivals Nokia Siemens Networks and Alcatel-Lucent SA as well as Asian companies including Samsung Electronics Co and Huawei Technologies Co. With so many vendors trying to sell networking gear to telephone companies, Ericsson has been expanding into products such as video systems - areas where carriers are making upgrade investments.

Wibergh pointed to the acquisition of Microsoft Corp's Mediaroom, a California-based provider of technology used to deliver television over the Internet, as an example of the shifting strategy.

"Our acquisition of Mediaroom from Microsoft is another way to run TV over fixed and mobile networks," Wibergh said. "We want to provide the infrastructure and also provide work in other areas to help carriers increase the effectiveness of their operations."