Displaying items by tag: Ericsson

Ericsson has announced that its unique dynamic spectrum sharing solution is commercially available, allowing communications service providers to quickly and cost-effectively launch 5G on a nationwide scale.

Ericsson Spectrum Sharing enables both 4G and 5G to be deployed in the same band and on the same radio through a software upgrade and dynamically allocates spectrum based on user demand on a 1 millisecond basis. Ericsson’s dynamic spectrum sharing is the most economically feasible way to deploy 5G on existing bands – enabling wide 5G coverage from day one – making more efficient use of spectrum and enabling superior user performance.

Fredrik Jejdling, Executive Vice President and Head of Networks, Ericsson, said, “For the first time, our customers do not have to re-farm spectrum before deploying a new ‘G’ and can quickly get 5G on the same footprint as they have with 4G today. In the next 12 months, more than 80 percent of the commercial 5G networks we support will use our spectrum sharing solution to achieve broad 5G coverage.”
“Spectrum is a scarce and costly resource that should be used efficiently. Ericsson Spectrum Sharing will mean that service providers can rapidly roll out 5G on their FDD bands without the need to re-invest. It means they can use both their new and existing bands for 5G high-speed, high-capacity services. Dynamically allocating spectrum between 4G and 5G is going to be the best way to start deploying 5G,” said Julian Bright, Senior Analyst, Ovum/Omdia.

ESS live with multiple service providers

Swisscom

With Ericsson as its sole mobile network vendor and strategic partner, Swisscom was the first communications service provider in Europe to launch commercial 5G services in April 2019. In December 2019, Swisscom achieved nationwide 5G coverage and is upgrading their network with Ericsson Spectrum Sharing.

Christoph Aeschlimann, Head of IT, Network & Infrastructure Group division, Swisscom, says: "ESS is key for a fast adoption of 5G. It's a win-win approach for customers and operators. Customers benefit from 5G in no time and operators use their precious spectrum in a most efficient manner. We are proud of being part of the ESS journey from the very beginning. In the meantime, we already reached a nationwide coverage with 90 percent of the population with 5G."

Telstra

In May 2019, Telstra launched its commercial 5G network in Australia and has now rolled out 5G coverage in 32 metropolitan and regional cities around the country with the help of Ericsson, its key 5G network partner. 

“Ericsson Spectrum Sharing will continue to play a crucial role in helping Telstra pave the way for a faster rollout of 5G, allowing us to serve the needs of 4G and 5G customers in the same location at the same time. These milestones are especially important for Telstra and the Australian landscape, where expanding 5G coverage over wide areas quickly and efficiently are key to providing more Australians with access to 5G services,” said Channa Seneviratne, Network and Engineering Infrastructure Executive, Telstra.  

Ooredoo Qatar

After going commercially live with 5G on 3.5 GHz band in Doha, Ooredoo is taking the next step to make its ‘Supernet’ fully 5G-enabled across the country with Ericsson Spectrum Sharing.

Waleed Al Sayed, Chief Executive Officer, Ooredoo Qatar, said, “As we take the next leap into being connected, Ericsson Spectrum Sharing comes as a unique innovation that dynamically shares spectrum between 4G and 5G carriers based on traffic demand. This enables us, as mobile operators, to use our spectrum assets efficiently by driving 5G-wide coverage roll-out quickly, smoothly and cost efficiently. This will help us achieve our strategic objectives, enabling us to enhance our customers’ internet experience and enrich their digital lives.”

Play

Polish service provider, Play, has deployed Ericsson Spectrum Sharing on its commercial network.

Jean Marc Harion, CEO of Play, says: "The 5G network in Legionowo is yet another proof of Play’s technological advancement in 5G and an important milestone in our strategy to continuously expand and modernize our network. With Ericsson Spectrum Sharing, we are taking a significant step towards being ready for commercial introduction of 5G when the devices become available.”

ESS ecosystem

Ericsson Spectrum Sharing software can run on any of the five million 5G-ready radios Ericsson has shipped since 2015. Ericsson has been collaborating with ecosystem chipset partners including Qualcomm Technologies Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, on advancing dynamic spectrum sharing using mobile devices powered by Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 865 and 765 Mobile Platforms with Snapdragon 5G Modem-RF Systems, and MediaTek (Dimensity 1000) as well as key device makers like Oppo, Sony, Xiaomi, LG, vivo and WNC (Wistron NeWeb Corp.) to scale the solution globally.

US Attorney general Bill Barr has called for The United States and its allies to take controlling stakes in Nokia, Ericsson or both to battle Chinese telecoms giant Huawei's dominance of the 5G market.

Ericsson published its Q4 financial results which highlighted that the Swedish telecom vendor did not experience much growth.

The vendor stated that the protracted merger of T-Mobile US and Sprint were to blame for the 9% drop in North America.

However, despite this, Ericsson experienced plenty of growth in the North American region at the beginning of the year.

Ericsson CEO Börje Ekholm commented on this and stated, “Due to uncertainty related to an announced operator merger, we saw a slowdown in our North American business in Q4, resulting in North America having the lowest share of total sales for some time. However, the underlying business fundamentals in North America remain strong.”

The vendor also experienced 1% growth in Q4 and 4% in the overall Financial Year of 2019. Despite their lack of growth in North America, the company did quite well in other markets such as the Middle East and North East Asia.

Their Q4 growth gross margin accounted for 37.1% which is essentially in line with their 2020 target.

In the previous fiscal year, the vendor’s operating income was at a loss of 1.9 billion Swedish kronor and it is now valued at 6.1 billion kronor. Also, the adjusted operating income increased to 6.5 billion kronor compared it the respective quarter last year of 2.6 billion kronor.

There was a decline to 14.5 % in the networks operating margin, which the firm attributes to an increase in investment and the occurrence of the Kathrein acquisition.

Ekholm also added, “Operating income was impacted by increased operating expenses. The increase is related to the Kathrein business acquisition, increased investments in digitalization and added resources to strengthen security as well as our Ethics and Compliance program. For 2020 we expect somewhat higher operating expenses, which will not jeopardize our financial targets.”

Whereas their Q4 net sales increased by 4% and was valued at 66.37 billion kronor compared to the respective quarter last year which (63.81 billion kronor). Sales were adjusted due to currency and comparable units and it was reported that there was a 1% increase year-over-year.

Ericsson has stated that they will be proposing a dividend for 2019 of 1.50 kronor per share at their

Ericsson has stated that at the Annual General Meeting, they will be proposing a dividend of 1.50 kronor per share for 2019. This is an increase compared to the 1.00 kronor per share from 2018.

Ericsson published its financial results for Q3 2019, reporting 3% percent growth in sales. Total sales were SEK 57.1 billion(b)., equivalent to AED 21.5 b. Sales adjusted for comparable units and currency increased by 3% driven by strong growth in North America and North East Asia.

For Q3 19, operating income was impacted by cost provisions of USD -1.2 b. (SEK -11.5 b.) corresponding to a margin of 11.4% excluding restructuring costs, the US investigation costs of USD -1.2 b. (SEK -11.5 b.) and the refund of social security costs of SEK 0.9 b.

Ericsson previously communicated that its third-quarter 2019 results will be impacted by a 12 billion Swedish krona provision. This is due to the investigations by U.S. authorities.

Net income suffered a SEK -6.9 b. loss, also negatively impacted by the investigation.

Free cash flow before M&A was SEK 5.5 b., showing a strong financial position.

Gross margin excluding restructuring charges was 37.8% (36.9%) with improvements in Managed Services, Digital Services and Networks. The gross margin in the previous quarter was 36.7% and 36.9% last year.

Strategic contracts in Networks, with initially low margins, taken to strengthen the market position, are expected to have a somewhat increased negative impact on gross margin short term without jeopardizing the 2020 target.

Ericsson has played a pivotal role in the advancement of 5G technology. Large 5G deployments in China are expected to commence in 2020. Ericsson has invested in R&D and supply chain capacity, aiming to increase market share. Based on historic experience margins are initially challenging but turn positive over the lifespan of a contract.

Commenting on the results, to Börje Ekholm, President and CEO of Ericsson said:

“We continue to see strong momentum in our business, based on the strategy to increase our investments for technology leadership, including 5G… Our focused strategy, introduced in 2017, is aimed at building a stronger Ericsson longer term. With clear focus on our operator customers the strategy stands on a foundation of increased investments in R&D for technology and cost leadership, and growing market footprint. Increased R&D efforts, which will continue, have resulted in a competitive portfolio driving improved gross margin.”

He added, “An important indicator for our execution of the strategy is the improvement in gross margin. The gross margin in the quarter ended at 37.8% compared with 36.9% last year and 36.7% last quarter. Within the 0.8 percentage point sequential decline in Networks gross margin, we have absorbed the margin impact and inventory provisions related to strategic contracts.”

In the report, Börje Ekholm believes their success is driven by the adopters of 5G. He also announced that 5G has taken off earlier than expected.

“5G is taking off faster than earlier anticipated and we see initial 5G buildout as a capacity enhancer in metropolitan areas. However, over time, new exciting innovations for 5G will come with industrial and IoT use cases, leveraging the speed, latency and security characteristics of 5G. This provides opportunities for our customers to capture new revenues as they provide additional benefits to consumers and businesses.”

“Our IoT business is growing almost twice as fast as the estimated market growth of 20-25% per year. We have more than 4,500 enterprises on our IoT platform and the number of connected devices on the platform has more than doubled year to date. To fully leverage our position and capture new recurring revenue streams we are increasing our investments in IoT within Emerging Business. With this investment, we do not expect to reach breakeven for the segment next year, and instead incur losses of SEK -1.5 to -2.0 b”

Vodafone announced switching on 5G in seven UK cities, including London, in partnership with Ericsson. This step puts the UK among the first to launch the fifth generation technology and sheds light on how Europe is lagging behind because of regulations.

Swiss telecommunications operator Swisscom has launched the continent’s first large scale 5G networks in partnership with Swedish vendor Ericsson.

In a statement released by the Swedish telecommunications behemoth it confirmed that the 5G network was launched in 54 cities across Switzerland after the operator secured a license to operate a 5G network in the country.

Ericsson has seen its financial coffers significantly boosted by its success in the North American market following the publication of its Q1 results.

Ericsson CEO Borje Ekholm expressed his delight at the launch of the 5G networks in Switzerland and predicted that the company would up the ante in relation to 5G in the large parts of Asia by the end of this year.

Ekholm said, “To date we have publicly announced commercial 5G deals with 18 named operator customers, which, at the moment, is more than any other vendor. The company would continue to incur costs for field trials and we’re expecting large-scale deployments of 5G to begin in parts of Asia by the end of 2019. Combined, this will gradually impact short-term margins but strengthen our position in the long term.”

Shares of Ericsson rocketed on the Stockholm stock exchange with the company reporting an increase of 3% which represented a four-year high for the vendor.  

Ericsson, one of Chinese telecom giant Huawei's main rivals in the 5G market, said earlier this year it hadn't felt any effects from US pressure on countries to ban Huawei's equipment amid fears that it could compromise the security of the mobile phone networks.

Ericsson and Orange have partnered to launch 4G networks in Sierra Leone in the nation’s capital of Freetown which will be providing its residents with fast and reliable 4G access.

Ericsson has reported its first quarter results which reflect an increase driven by the growth the Swedish vendor has registered in North America.

Ericsson President and CEO Börje Ekholm says Ericsson will switch on 5G globally in 2019, backed by a strong, secure and available portfolio.

Addressing media and analysts as he launched Ericsson’s MWC Barcelona 2019 in Barcelona, Ekholm also stressed the role of 5G as a critical national infrastructure, and emphasized the advantages for early adopters.

“We are truly switching on 5G around the world in 2019,” he said.

Ekholm said that Ericsson has announced commercial 5G deals with 10 named service provider customers, as well as 42 memorandums of understanding. The company is already rolling out 5G networks across the globe: in the US, Europe, Asia, and Australia.  And he promised more announcements to come.

“Consumers and enterprises are waiting for 5G,” Ekholm said. “According to Ericsson ConsumerLab research, one-third of smartphone users globally will change either immediately or within six months to a service provider that switches on 5G. Today, the US and Asia are leading in 5G development.”

Ékholm said the first commercial scale 5G beneficiaries will be mobile broadband consumers with massive and highly cost-efficient capacity expansions facilitating new applications in augmented reality and virtual reality in areas such as gaming and sports broadcasts.

But he also stressed how 5G would move the industry beyond consumer products and into the industrial internet, citing ongoing collaborations in both mobile robotics and all-electric, autonomous vehicles as examples.

Ekholm also highlighted how Ericsson Radio System hardware has been 5G-ready since 2015 and can be used also for 5G New Radio (NR) with a remote software installation.

This means that Ericsson has already shipped more than 3 million 5G-ready radios to its customers worldwide. Ericsson’s unique spectrum sharing capabilities and common core and dynamic orchestration solutions would put Ericsson customers in the lead with 5G, he said.

 “Our unique Ericsson Spectrum Sharing is the most economically feasible way to introduce 5G in existing bands achieving immediate nationwide coverage,” he said. “We can dynamically mix 4G and 5G traffic on the same spectrum. Some said this kind of spectrum sharing was impossible. Wrong! Our engineers are truly world class. With spectrum sharing, our customers have a real 5G frontrunner advantage.”

Ekholm announced that Ericsson intends to acquire Kathrein’s antenna and filters business for mobile networks. This will expand the company’s capabilities and competences in the advanced active and passive antenna domain. Ericsson will be adding around 4,000 highly-skilled professionals in R&D, production and sales based in more than 20 locations, including Germany, Romania, Mexico and China.

Ericsson has joined the O-RAN Alliance, a group of leading telecom service providers and suppliers with the commitment to evolving radio access network (RAN) architecture and orchestration built on openness, intelligence, flexibility and performance.

As a member, the company will focus on the open interworking between RAN and network orchestration and automation, with emphasis on AI-enabled closed-loop automation and end-to-end optimization, to lower operating cost and improve end-user performance.

Ericsson will also focus on the upper-layer function as specified in 3GPP to provide interoperable multivendor profiles for specified interfaces between central RAN functions, resulting in faster deployment of 5G networks on a global scale.

Erik Ekudden, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Ericsson, says: “Ericsson is a strong supporter of openness in the industry, and the benefits this has on global ecosystems and innovations. Our ambition is to actively support and drive discussions and developments around future RAN architectures and open interfaces. The O-RAN Alliance is an important coalition that creates an arena for these discussions, complementing other standardization and open-source initiatives in the industry which we are already active in.”

Ericsson has driven, and continues to drive, the industry towards open interfaces as part of its standardization work. The company is recognized as leaders in 3GPP and is actively contributing to several open-source communities including Linux, ONAP and OpenStack to secure open platforms useful for mobile networks.

The company’s engagement with the O-RAN Alliance is based on the future needs of mobile network service providers, and how networks must evolve to enable broad range of services with strong focus on quality, performance and security.

The O-RAN Alliance was formally formed at Mobile World Congress Shanghai on June 27, 2018 as a network operator-led effort to drive openness and intelligence in the RAN of next-generation wireless systems. At the end of 2018, the O-RAN Alliance was opened also for non-service providers to join.