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Tag: Ericsson

  • Ericsson appoints new CEO

    Ericsson appoints new CEO

    Ericsson has appointed long-time board member Börje Ekholm president and CEO, effective from mid-January.

    Ekholm will replace interim CEO Jan Frykhammar on January 16, who is standing in following the resignation of Hans Vestberg in July.

    Ekholm joins Ericsson from Patricia Industries, a division of Sweden’s Investor – Ericsson’s largest shareholder -where he is CEO. Prior to this he was CEO of Investor AB between 2005 and 2015, and has held positions at companies including Novare Kapital and McKinsey and Co.

    “I am very excited about this opportunity. As the networks and applications become even more important in a 5G connected world, our customers, and the industry, look for continuous innovation,” he commented.

    “I look forward to joining the great team at Ericsson and work closely with existing and new customers around the world in shaping the future of our industry.”

    Ekholm is also a board member of Alibaba and several other companies. He is based in the US, and will stay there when he takes the role. He will retain his position on the Ericsson board.

    Ericsson recently announced plans to cut 3,000 jobs in Sweden as part of the vendor’s ongoing cost cutting program.

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  • Ericsson swings to $22.4m Q3 loss

    Ericsson swings to $22.4m Q3 loss

    Ericsson swung to a loss of 200 million kronor ($22.4 million) in the third quarter as a result of weaker sales, particularly in the networks segment.

    The net loss – which marked a reversal from a 3.1 billion kronor net income in the third quarter – can be attributed to a number of negative industry trends impacting demand, according to Ericsson.

    Reported sales declined 14% year-on-year to 51.1 billion kronor, with network segment revenues down 19% due to weaker demand for mobile broadband.

    Gross margins also shrank significantly – from 33.9% to 28.3% – as a result of the decline in demand for network equipment in comparison to the lower-margin services segment.

    “The negative industry trends from the first half of 2016 have further accelerated, impacting Q3 sales, primarily relating to mobile broadband…The current industry trends indicate a somewhat weaker than normal seasonal sales growth between the third and fourth quarters,” Ericsson president and CEO Jan Frykhammar said.

    “In addition a renewed managed services contract in North America, with reduced scope, will impact sales negatively. The current business mix of coverage and capacity sales in mobile broadband is anticipated to prevail in the short term.”

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  • Ericsson signs raft of content deals for Nuvu

    Ericsson signs raft of content deals for Nuvu

    Ericsson has signed a slate of deals with leading content distributors for its subscription video on demand (SVOD) service Nuvu, acquiring more than 2,500 hours of content from international distributors including Viacom (MTV, BET, Nickelodeon), MGM, CBS, Al Jazeera, DHX Media and Mattel.

    Titles include globally recognized hit TV franchises such as Hawaii Five-O, Next Top Model, CSI: Miami, Being Mary Jane, SpongeBob SquarePants, Bob the Builder, Vikings and many others along with a raft of premium Hollywood movies.

    Ericsson has also licensed dozens of pan-regional and local African TV series and movie content from distributors such as iRoko, Trace and Agwhyte International along with hundreds of music videos from the 960 Music Group, which is home to some of West Africa’s most influential music artists including P-Square, 2Baba and Yemi Alade.

    “We created Nuvu to help mobile operators in emerging markets to address a significant untapped market for video content,” said Thorsten Sauer, head of broadcast and media services at Ericsson. “Africa has some of the highest mobile adoption rates globally and there is a high demand for quality content from consumers.”

    Nuvu is a complete end-to-end SVOD service developed by Ericsson for mobile operators in emerging markets, which spans both the technology platform and the content licensing. The service leverages the company’s extensive over-the top capabilities based on Ericsson Managed Player and components of Ericsson MediaFirst TV Platform.

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  • Ericsson, Equinix enter hybrid cloud alliance

    Ericsson, Equinix enter hybrid cloud alliance

    Ericsson and Equinix have developed a joint offering designed to help enterprises capture the true benefits of hybrid and multi cloud adoption.

    The offering leverages the Equinix Cloud Exchange (ECX) and the Apcera platform from Ericsson.

    The initial target enterprises will be finance and insurance companies in Southeast Asia and Oceania to help solve their challenges on data compliance and regulation and at the same time give the agility that enterprises need.

    The finance and insurance industry have strict compliance regulations on data and this limitats their ability to pursue a multi-cloud strategy. Ericsson and Equinix’s joint offering will address this challenge by enabling enterprises to deploy any application on any cloud infrastructure with high performance and secure connections that meet compliance regulations.

    “To be able to meet the market demand for hybrid cloud and multi cloud, Ericsson is delighted to partner with Equinix,” commented Ludvig Landgren, VP for network applications and  cloud infrastructure at Ericsson Southeast Asia and Oceania.

    “We will jointly support enterprises, initially addressing South East Asia and Oceania customers, moving workloads and data across multiple clouds using one port with on-demand, automated connectivity.”

    The initial deployment is scheduled for December, 2016.

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  • Ericsson, HomeSend team for remittance in emerging markets

    Ericsson, HomeSend team for remittance in emerging markets

    HomeSend and Ericsson have teamed up to accelerate the adoption of international remittances via mobile across emerging markets.

    With the partnership, 50 million Ericsson-powered mobile wallet users are expected to benefit from access to international payment services via HomeSend’s network of money transfer operators (MTOs).

    The Ericsson Wallet Platform is now certified by HomeSend, a joint venture between Mastercard, eServGlobal and BICS that aims to bridge the gap between financial institutions, non-financial entities and mobile network operators.

    The HomeSend-Ericsson partnership aims to give financial service providers a low-cost, simple and fast way to connect the HomeSend global money transfer hub with Ericsson’s mobile money offering around the world. With this, mobile money users are expected to be able to enjoy new levels of flexibility, choice and value.

    Ericsson’s Mobile Financial Services solutions now also include Ericsson interconnect, the company’s cloud-based financial transactions switching and mediation service, which aims to extend reach to Financial Services providers using any wallet or mobile banking platform.

    “The partnership represents HomeSend’s continuing commitment to displace cash and facilitate electronic payments, advancing financial inclusion in the new global economy,” said Stephen Doyle, CEO, HomeSend. “Millions of new unbanked consumers will gain improved access to digital inflows from friends and relatives, as we continue to advance toward a fully open ecosystem for global mobile money remittances.”

    In 2016, the World Bank expects remittances to reach over $600 billion, with more than $440 billion being sent to developing countries. The partnership aims to bridge the gap between finance and telecommunication service providers, enabling mobile wallet users to send and receive money from their family abroad through their mobile phones, while enabling financial institutions to offer their customers the convenience of digital money transfers regardless of their location or that of the recipient.

    “By enabling fast, secure integrations to HomeSend’s remittance hub, we are providing growth opportunities for our customers,” said Peter Heuman, head of Ericsson Mobile Financial Services.

    “Integration with the HomeSend Hub connects Ericsson mobile wallet powered financial service providers, and potentially other financial service providers, to a global network of financial institutions and MTOs. This represents a major advance in helping to grow mobile financial services ecosystems whilst supporting financial inclusion.”

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  • Ericsson, Google partner on pay TV

    Ericsson, Google partner on pay TV

    Ericsson and Google are partnering to extend the reach of the Ericsson cloud-based MediaFirst TV Platform into the Android TV ecosystem, Google’s operating system for the set-top-box.

    Ericsson MediaFirst is a software-defined, media-optimized end-to-end portfolio suite for the creation, preparation, management and delivery of next generation pay-TV to any screen with an immersive TV viewing experience.

    The integration of Ericsson MediaFirst TV Platform with Android TV will provide an additional pathway to extend MediaFirst cloud-based TV services, including 4K-UHD live TV channels, video-on-demand, catch-up TV and cloud DVR to an even wider subscriber base.

    According to Ericsson, the partnership with Google will give operators the opportunity to benefit from Android TV’s growing presence on connected TV operating systems, without the need for additional hardware costs.

    Operators will be able to partner with manufacturers of Android TV devices to deliver new hardware-based functionality as well as niche over-the-top programming, or deploy additional applications within the Android operating system.

    Additionally, the collaboration will enable Ericsson to deliver multiple, flexible, pre-integrated set-top box solutions that support hybrid configurations for satellite, cable, terrestrial, and fixed and mobile broadband TV.

    “By expanding our range of set-top box options, we are giving Ericsson MediaFirst TV customers the opportunity to deliver cutting-edge, large scale video services and respond to the surge in adoption of smart devices, broadband connectivity and cloud-based delivery,” said Shiva Patibanda, head of business line TV platforms at Ericsson.

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  • Telstra, Ericsson achieve five-carrier LTE aggregation

    Telstra, Ericsson achieve five-carrier LTE aggregation

    Telstra and its technology supplier Ericsson claim to have achieved a world-first with a test that used four separate radio frequency spectrum bands with five carriers for very high long term evolution-advanced (LTE-A) bit rates.

    The trial at an undisclosed location used Telstra’s production network, with a Cobham Aeroflex TM500 4G network testing device as the receiver.

    It used 20 MHz each in the 700 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz ranges, as well as two 20MHz bands in the 2600 MHz frequency range, for a total of 100MHz aggregated bandwidth.

    Five carriers and 100MHz are the maximum under the current LTE-A specification.

    Ericsson utilised high encoding rate 256 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) for the signal to provide better peak data speeds.

    Using the stateless user datagram protocol (UDP), the trial achived 950Mbps downlink speeds.

    With the more commonly used transmission control protocol (TCP), Ericsson and Telstra hit 843Mbps against the Speedtest website, the two telcos said. They declined to reveal the latency of the connection or the distance over the air for the signal.

    Telstra operations managing director of networks Mike Wright said that was “a widely accepted view that 4G should achieve peak speeds in the range of 1Gbps”.

    In reaching such high speeds, Wright said it could be argued that LTE technology was finally moving beyond the 4G barrier.

    “The demonstration of 1Gbps end to end capability shows the advanced state of these standards and our ability to rapidly bring them into commercial service in order to deliver increased capacity in our network to meet growing demand,” he said.

    “In addition to Telstra consumer customers, we are preparing our networks for growth in business use, as well as emerging technologies, which rely on our ability to deliver high capacity and low-latency solutions.”

    There are currently no handsets or devices capable of working with the combined five carrier LTE signal, and Telstra would not say when or whether it is planning on launching commercial services.

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  • Ericsson to launch 5G New Radio in 2017

    Ericsson to launch 5G New Radio in 2017

    Ericsson has announced plans to commercially launch the first 5G New Radio (NR) equipment in 2017, a key enabling technology for future 5G networks.

    The 5G NR radio supports Ericsson’s Massive MIMO and Multi-User MIMO 5G plugins. It uses advanced antennas and a large number of steerable ports to support these new technologies, as well as beamforming, another expected component of 5G networks.

    In addition to being 5G ready the 5G NR supports LTE, so it will be deployable in today’s networks. They support Gigabit speeds for LTE and advanced TDD beamforming.

    New network builds will be supported by Ericsson’s new Industrialized Network Rollout Services offering, which involves providing configuration, installation, integration, shakedown and handover in a single site visit.

    China Mobile Research Institute deputy head Huang Yuhong has welcomed the planned launch.  “Massive-MIMO, also known as 3D MIMO, is an important milestone in China Mobile’s technology roadmap from 4G to 5G,” he said.

    “We are very happy that Ericsson’s new radio product is coming to market soon to meet our needs and enable us to integrate 5G technologies into our existing networks.”

    “Mobile operators, today, are clearly focused on the race to 5G commercialization, while also continuing to invest in their existing LTE networks,” Current Analysis VP of consumer and infrastructure services Peter Jarich added.

    “With a new 5G radio and LTE offerings which echo key 5G concepts – small cells, licensed-unlicensed band combinations, Cloud RAN, network densification, spectrum optimization – Ericsson’s new portfolio additions and Ericsson Radio System innovations provide a compelling way forward.”

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  • Ericsson and China Mobile trial 5G drone prototype

    Ericsson and China Mobile trial 5G drone prototype

    Ericsson and Nokia are both trialing using drones to dynamically improve coverage of next-generation mobile networks.

    Ericsson and China Mobile recently announced they have completed a 5G drone prototype field trial on the operator’s network.

    During the trial in Wuxi, a drone was flown using the operator’s mobile network with 5G-enabled technologies and handovers across multiple sites.

    In a statement, the companies said the trial marks “an important step toward 5G networks in which part of a network can be distributed and dynamically deployed at the cellular edge in order to reduce end-to-end latency, and to serve a range of 5G use cases at the same time.”

    Nokia has meanwhile been collaborating with EE to trial using drones to carry tine base stations to remote areas. Nokia said the testing showed that drones can help to very quickly establish mobile coverage over ranges of several kilometers.

    Mobile operators would be able to provide temporary 4G coverage in remote areas or rapidly extend capacity at large events such as sports matches or festivals.

    During the trial high-quality LTE calls, video streaming and a peak data throughput of 150Mbps were all achieved without the need to connect to an external core network.

    The development follows shortly after Nokia and SK Telecom announced that they had completed trials of an all-in-one portable public safety LTE system, which contains all the equipment needed to establish a temporary LTE network in hardware compact enough to fit in a backpack.

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  • Singtel, Ericsson complete SEA’s first 5G demo

    Singtel, Ericsson complete SEA’s first 5G demo

    Singtel and Ericsson have completed the first live demonstration of 5G prototype technology, achieving a peak throughput of 27.5Gbps.

    The demonstration used Ericsson’s 5G radio prototypes to showcase the capabilities offered by the new networking technology, which also included demonstrating a latency as low as 2ms.

    At the demonstration, Singtel and Ericsson also showcased the world’s first end-to-end low latency live video streaming over 5G.

    Ericsson and Singel signed an MoU last year to collaborate on testing technology candidates for the 5G standard. Last week, the companies completed a live trial of pre-standard License Assisted Access (LAA) technology over Singtel’s 4G network.

    Singtel group CTO Tay Soo Meng said the collaboration is aimed at ensuring the operator’s customers have access to the latest mobile technologies.

    “We strive to upgrade our networks with cutting-edge enhancements, constantly offering our customers all the possibilities that technology brings. Singapore is at the forefront of the most connected cities in the world and now we want to take it to the next level,” he said.

    “5G is very important to the Singtel Group as it will support advanced communication needs. To ensure the Group continues our technology leadership in the mobile communications domain, we are exploring, studying and trialling pre-5G technologies with Ericsson.”

    The operator is preparing for the anticipated standardization of 5G in 2020 by deploying key pre-5G technologies including carrier aggregation, 256QAM and NB-IoT.

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  • Singtel, Ericsson demonstrate LAA on live 4G network

    Singtel, Ericsson demonstrate LAA on live 4G network

    Singtel and Ericsson announced they have completed a live trial of pre-standard License Assisted Access (LAA) technology on Singtel’s network.

    The trial in an office building at Serangoon North involved a 20 MHz block of licensed 1800-MHz spectrum, augmented with 20 MHz in the unlicensed 5-GHz band.

    A stationary live test achieved an LTE LAA throughput of 275 Mbps, while a second test demonstrated LAA’s ability to co-exist with Wi-Fi signals without degrading the Wi-Fi user experience.

    The trial also involved coverage testing to validate the technology’s ability to improve link performance, coverage and medium access control compared to Wi-Fi access points.

    Announcing the results, Singtel said the testing showcases the potential for LAA to improve network capacity for mobile customers, in a market where nearly 85% of mobile traffic is generated indoors.

    Due to the success of the trial the operator plans to progressively deploy LAA technology in Singapore over a two-year period starting in the first half of 2017, as part of efforts to evolve its networks in preparation for the introduction of 5G.

    The company said in the future, customers with LAA-capable handsets will be provided with peak download throughput of up to 450 Mbps.

    “To provide our customers with a superior mobile experience when they are indoors, we are continuing to invest in new technologies that will increase indoor 4G speeds,” Singtel managing director of networks consumer Singapore Tay Yeow Lian said.

    “We are pleased to be the first in Singapore to showcase LAA technology live. This is an integral part of the LTE-Advanced evolution and will bring us one step closer to our 5G goals.”

  • Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg steps down

    Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg steps down

    Ericsson has announced the resignation of long-serving CEO Hans Vestberg, effective immediately, as the company seeks to transform to adapt to changing market dynamics.

    Vestberg has also stepped down as president and as a member of the board of directors, but remains “at the company’s disposal” for a six month term of notice, the company announced.

    Executive vice president and CFO Jan Frykhammar will take the role of interim CEO until a permanent replacement is found.

    Vestberg has been with Ericsson for 28 years and has been serving as CEO for the last seven. But he has been facing pressure to step down as the company struggles with profitability in a period of slowing demand and intense competition.

    Last week the company reported a 24% decline in second-quarter net profit, along with an aggressive cost reduction plan aimed at turning around the company’s operations.

    “Hans has been instrumental in building strong relationships with key customers around the world and his leadership and energy have been an inspiration to employees and leaders across Ericsson,” Ericsson chairman Leif Johansson commented.

    “However, in the current environment and as the company accelerates its strategy execution, the Board of Directors has decided that the time is right for a new leader to drive the next phase in Ericsson’s development.”

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  • Ericsson launches 5G plug-ins

    Ericsson launches 5G plug-ins

    Ericsson has launched a line of “5G plug-ins” designed to prepare today’s networks for the next generation of mobile technology.

    The vendor has introduced a range of software-driven plug-ins focused on capabilities operators can leverage within current networks to facilitate the evolution to 5G.

    Plug-ins include massive MIMO, multi-user MIMO, RAN virtualiztion, intelligent connectivity and latency reduction.

    The plug-ins cover use cases including mobile HD video, driverless buses, haptic feedback-enabled drones and residential wireless broadband services offering fiber-equivalent speeds.

    They are currently only available for operator trials but will be made available for commercial networks starting from next year.

    Ericsson SVP and head of radio Arun Bansal said the plug-ins are designed to “enable the evolutionary steps that operators need to take as they develop networks to secure their 5G future.”

    Current Analysis VP of consumer and infrastructure services noted that while 5G has gained considerable momentum over the past year, “without spectrum allocations or ratified standards, operators need a migration tactic allowing them to leverage current network investments in synch with their 5G evolution strategies.

    “Ericsson’s 5G plug-Ins deliver this flexibility, supporting the deployment of advanced access technologies in the near-term, and in preparation for 5G.”

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  • Ericsson reshuffles management team

    Ericsson reshuffles management team

    Ericsson has announced changes to its management team, with the departure of three senior vice presidents and several promotions, as part of a boarder reorganization of the company into five business units and one dedicated customers-service unit.

    Anders Lindblad, currently head of Business Unit Cloud & IP, will head Ericsson’s new Business Unit IT & Cloud Products.

    The new Business Unit IT & Cloud Services unit will be headed by Jean-Philippe Poirault, currently Ericsson’s Head of Consulting and Systems Integration.

    Fredrik Jejdling, currently head of region sub-Saharan Africa, will become SVP and head of Business Unit Network Services.

    Charlotta Sund, currently head of region Northern Europe and Central Asia, will take up the role of SVP and head of Customer Group Industry & Society.

    Niklas Heuveldop will become SVP, chief customer officer and head of Group Function Sales. Heuveldop is currently Ericsson’s head of Global Customer Unit AT&T.

    Lindblad, Poirault, Jejdling, Sund, Heuveldop will also join the Ericsson executive team.

    The three top executives leaving Ericsson as part of the shakeup include Jan Wäreby, Anders Thulin and Mats H. Olsson.

    Magnus Mandersson, currently EVP and head of Segment and Business Unit Global Services, will hold the position as head of Segment Global Services, EVP and Advisor to the CEO.

    Angel Ruiz, currently head of Ericsson’s North America region, will be replaced by Rima Qureshi. Qureshi is currently Ericsson’s SVP and head of Group Function Strategy and Head of M&A. Ruiz will continue with the company as chairperson of regions North and Latin America.

  • TrueMove H taps Ericsson for LTE-A rollout

    TrueMove H taps Ericsson for LTE-A rollout

    Thailand’s TrueMove H has appointed Ericsson to support its LTE-Advanced rollout in north, central west and south Thailand.

    Under the contract Ericsson will help deploy LTE-A carrier aggregation and further expand TrueMove H’s 2G and 3G networks on the 900-MHz, 1800-MHz and 2100-MHz spectrum bands.

    The three year contract will see Ericsson provide multi-standard radio equipment using the new Ericsson Radio System, ranging from indoor small cells to macro cells.

    “We are committed to offering our customers the best mobile broadband experience,” True Corp COO Vichaow Rakphongphairoj said.

    “Our Partnership with Ericsson will further strengthen our 3G/WCDMA and 4G/LTE leadership in Thailand and enable us to offer optimized mobile data service with the best smartphone performance to our customers.”

    TrueMove H was one of two winners of 900-MHz 4G spectrum during an expensive auction last year, after bidding 76 billion baht ($2.1 billion).  But fellow license winner Jasmine appears likely to  miss the deadline for paying the first installment of its own bid.