Carl-Henric Svanberg, the president and CEO of Sweden-based telecommunication provider Ericsson, paid a courtesy visit to Turkey's Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday, a company statement said.

Svanberg also met executives of Turkey's telecom sector in Istanbul, and later paid a visit to Erdogan.

During the half-hour meeting, Svanberg presented to Erdogan an Ericsson telephone with a crescent and star, the motif of Turkish Flag, used during the inauguration of telephone exchange office in the Aegean city of Izmir in 1925.

Operating in Turkey for 118 years, Ericsson made its first investment in the country by establishing a telephone line at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul in 1890. The line is still working.

Ericsson is a world-leading provider of telecommunications equipment and related services to mobile and fixed network operators globally. Over 1,000 networks in more than 175 countries utilize Ericsson's network equipment and 40 percent of all mobile calls are made through the company's systems.

The headquarters of Ericsson are located, and the Board of Directors is seated, in Stockholm, Sweden.

AA