Ericsson, it turns out, does not exist in a parallel universe. Investors, who marked the Swedish group’s shares down by 6 per cent after profits fell by a worse-than-expected 72 per cent in the third quarter, seem surprised. Strip out restructuring costs and losses at struggling joint ventures, including Sony Ericsson, the handset maker, and Ericsson’s core networking business had put in a gravity-defying performance this year.

But the world’s biggest supplier of mobile network infrastructure was bound to feel the tug of recession eventually. Mobile infrastructure is a late-cycle business. Long lead times make the companies that build, install and service mobile phone networks slow to feel the effects of a sputtering economy. Rebuilding order books takes time.