STOCKHOLM, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Telecom giant Ericsson reported a 27-percent decline in profits for the first quarter of 2010, the company said Friday.

During the first three months this year, the Swedish company's net profit reached 1.26 billion kronor (176 million U.S. dollars), a drop of 30 percent from 1.72 billion kronor (239 million U.S. dollars) a year ago, Ericsson said in a statement.

Revenue amounted to 45.1 billion kronor (about 6.3 billion U.S.dollars), a nine percent drop year on year, the statement said.

Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg owed the drop to huge restructuring spending and a weak market.

"The market conditions we saw in the second half of 2009 prevailed also in this quarter with mixed operator investment behavior across regions and markets," Vestberg said.

He said, however, that gross margin has been improved, noting "the work to regain profitability in our joint ventures is on track and Sony Ericsson shows improved results."