In times of economic crisis when most mobile phone manufacturers and operators come up with different plans to minimize their deficits, Ericsson seems to keep up its profits and land pretty good business deals.

We’ve reported that Sprint Nextel pays Ericson about $5 billion to manage its network under a 2-year deal. Additionally, 6,000 Sprint employees will move to Ericsson.

Now, the Swedish mobile phone manufacturer Ericsson has just signed a $1.7 billion deal for 3G and 3G services with two titans of China’s telecommunication operators. China Mobile and China Unicom, the country’s top two operators, signed the deal with Ericsson to receive technical assistance for 2G and 3G services.