-
The Company
The Company
- Ericsson is shaping the way the world communicates. Read on to discover more about our company, its history and vision.
-
Thinking Ahead
Tech Talk
- Do you want to know what the Social Web of Things is and how we can benefit? Watch our latest Tech Talk film
Thinking Ahead
- All our insights, research, and discussions are here in one place. Use them for Thinking Ahead.
-
Your Business
- Government
- Transport Industry
- Utilities Industry
- Developer Portal
- Equipment Manufacturers
- Channel Partner Program
Your Business
- Take a closer look at how Ericsson can help your business excel in a rapidly evolving market.
-
Our Portfolio
Our Portfolio
- Find out more about Ericsson’s comprehensive portfolio of innovative products, operator solutions and services.
-
Careers
Careers
- A career with Ericsson offers outstanding opportunities for professional and personal development in a truly global organization.
Overview
Top stories
Ericsson reports fourth quarter 2009 results
Ericsson reported net sales of SEK 58.3 billion for the fourth quarter of 2009, down 13 percent year-on-year, and full-year 2009 sales of SEK 206.5 billion for 2009, compared with SEK 208.9 billion for 2008 (Press release).
Sony Ericsson reports fourth quarter and full year 2009 results
Sony Ericsson reported sales of Euro 1.75 million, a sequential increase of 8 percent and a year-on-year decrease of 40 percent. Sales for 2009 were Euro 6.788 million, 40 percent down on a year earlier. Units shipped in the quarter were 14.6 million, a sequential increase of 3 percent and a year-on-year decrease of 40 percent (Press release).
ST-Ericsson reports fourth quarter 2009 results
ST-Ericsson, the 50/50 joint venture between Ericsson and STMicroelectronics, reported net sales of USD 740 million for the fourth quarter of 2009, a 2 percent sequential increase on the previous quarter, resulting in an adjusted operating loss of USD 50 million (Press release).
New heads of Global Services and CDMA business units appointed
Ericsson has appointed Magnus Mandersson as head of business unit Global Services and Rima Qureshi as head of business unit CDMA Mobile Systems (Press release).
Ericsson to acquire Nortel’s North American GSM business
Ericsson was selected as successful bidder to acquire certain assets of the Carrier Networks division of Nortel relating to Nortel’s GSM business in the USA and Canada. The purchase is structured as an asset sale at a cash purchase price of USD 70 million on a cash and debt-free basis, subject to adjustments (Press release).
Ericsson completes Nortel acquisition in North America
Ericsson completed its acquisition of substantially all of Nortel’s CDMA business and LTE assets in North America (Press release).
Johan Wibergh appointed Executive Vice President
Ericsson appointed Johan Wibergh as Executive Vice President. Wibergh is currently head of business unit Networks and Senior Vice President and will remain in his position as business unit head (Press release).
Jan Frykhammar appointed CFO and Executive Vice President
Jan Frykhammar has been appointed Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President by Ericsson’s new Chief Executive Officer, Hans Vestberg. Frykhammar was previously head of business unit Global Services and Senior Vice President (Press release).
Viewpoint – LTE patents: honesty and openness are key to innovation
Kasim Alfalahi
Chief Intellectual Property Officer
Inflated claims over patent holdings for Long Term Evolution (LTE) risk killing the goose that laid the golden eggs. Why? Because continued innovation relies on a fair patent licensing environment, both to protect the intellectual property of the innovator and to ensure that patented technologies are available at reasonable cost to other industry players – and, ultimately, to operators and their customers. In short, it’s time for some openness and honesty when it comes to assessing companies’ claims to LTE patent holdings.
As telecom vendors work to design, build and roll out LTE infrastructure, the issue of who owns the rights to which essential patents for the technology is coming to the fore. This is no esoteric discussion topic: achieving an equitable division of rights to patents, and royalties, is essential to a healthy LTE ecosystem.
The success of GSM and WCDMA demonstrates how open standards and fair licensing principles have created the world’s most dynamic and competitive telecoms technology. GSM has been adopted in virtually every country and new GSM subscribers are still being added at four times the rate of CDMA.
It’s testament to the telecoms industry’s culture of openness and agreement that the almost four billion people who subscribe to Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) mobile networks – including GSM, EDGE, WCDMA and HSPA – can talk and send text messages to each other, no matter which network or device they are using. Compare this with the situation in instant messaging (IM), where users are locked into individual competing products that cannot talk to each other.
Fair prices, fair returns
The way open standards are developed in the telecoms world ensures everyone gets a fair return for their IPR. It also helps ensure that new products and solutions offer optimal functionality for the customer at a fair price. In telecoms standardization, each of the participants shares its technology developments and is open about its IPR claims from the start. They also waive their rights to a monopoly and promise to license all their essential patents on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms.
The result for telecom operators is a highly competitive market for interoperable solutions, which enables them to choose vendors based on a range of factors, not just technology. All the companies that contributed to standards also get a fair share of the resulting IPR licence fees, even when they don’t win a contract – enabling them to continue investing in new technology.
Throughout the development of mobile telecoms, Ericsson has driven open standards and built a strong patent portfolio as an important aspect of a healthy R&D culture. Ericsson is the undisputed leader of essential GSM and WCDMA patents, and we naturally wish to maintain any market leads we have established. We are constantly looking for new ways to improve the capabilities and performance of our products and solutions for operators.
No place for exaggeration
The proven success of the FRAND principle for negotiating IPR licensing terms means that there can be no place for exaggerated claims to essential patent holdings. Judging the relative strengths of industry players based on their numbers of patent declarations, for example, is fundamentally flawed: it’s granted patents that count. By December 2009, there were more than 1,800 LTE patent declarations to ETSI, but it is not part of ETSI’s remit to analyze or give any warranties as to their relevance or validity. Some vendors declare large volumes of patents in the hope of improving their industry standing when it comes to IPR negotiations.
As one of the leading innovators in mobile telecoms, Ericsson has a high quality threshold when it comes to patent declarations. Out the 146 LTE-related patents that Ericsson has declared to ETSI so far, 62 are granted patents and 84 are published applications.
Ericsson has had the highest impact on the released LTE specification. We have a proven track-record of turning standardization leadership into leadership in essential patents for current mobile technologies. We aim to repeat this success in LTE, with a 25 percent share of all essential patents – more than any other industry player.
Many of the patents that will be essential to LTE are yet to be granted. Once they have been, it will be clear who the real leaders are.
If you would like to discuss this issue in more detail, please contact: industry.analysts@ericsson.com.
Mobile networks
3 Scandinavia first with world's fastest 3G network
Mobile operator 3 Scandinavia has chosen Ericsson to supply the world's first 84Mbps HSPA network for nationwide rollout in Denmark and four major cities in Sweden, plus a new WCDMA/HSPA radio access network on the 900MHz frequency band to boost coverage indoors and in remote areas (Press release).
Nationwide 4G/LTE roll-out for TeliaSonera in Norway and Sweden
Mobile operator TeliaSonera has selected Ericsson as sole supplier of a common core network and to provide LTE radio access for 4G services. During 2010, TeliaSonera expects to offer its customers 4G coverage in the 25 largest municipalities in Sweden alongside the four largest municipalities in Norway, including Oslo (Press release).
New Norwegian 3G operator Mobile Norway chooses Ericsson
New operator Mobile Norway, jointly owned by Network Norway and Tele2, has selected Ericsson as sole supplier of a 3G network that will provide 75 percent of the country’s population with advanced mobile broadband services (Press release).
New 3G speed record
Ericsson demonstrated its latest mobile broadband technology, HSPA Evolution, operating at download speeds up to 42Mbps at a public demonstration near Stockholm, Sweden, involving leading operators from around the world (Press release).
World's first 4G/LTE network goes live in Stockholm
The world’s first and largest commercial 4G service was launched ahead of schedule by TeliaSonera and Ericsson in Stockholm (Press release).
EDGE Evolution offers short-cut to mobile broadband
The world’s first commercially available EDGE Evolution solution, available from Ericsson, offers GSM/GPRS network operators a shortcut to 3G mobile broadband capabilities by significantly reducing delays and increasing data speeds up to 300 percent (Press release).
Indosat rolls out location-based services
Indosat, Indonesia’s second-largest telecom operator, is bringing advanced location-based services to its 29 million subscribers using Ericsson technology. Subscribers will get location-tailored content, including real-time traffic information, family member location and public safety information (Press release).
Ericsson and Samsung in world-first LTE interoperability demo
Ericsson and Samsung successfully achieved interoperability between the world’s first commercial LTE device from Samsung and the live network from Ericsson in Stockholm, Sweden (Press release).
Multimedia services
Libya’s Al-Madar Al-Jadid selects Ericsson convergent billing solution
Ericsson is to provide Al-Madar Al-Jadid, Libya’s leading mobile operator, with a convergent charging and billing solution that will enable its mobile subscribers to enjoy benefits such as flexible tariffs and full control of costs, bonuses and rewards (Press release).
Telekom Austria boosts backhaul for mobile broadband across central Europe
All Telekom Austria Group companies across eight central European countries are upgrading their mobile networks with Ericsson’s latest microwave backhaul solution, which enables increased capacity while reducing costs for mobile operators (Press release).
Romtelecom outsources field operations to Ericsson
Romania’s largest wireline operator Romtelecom outsourced field operations activities to Ericsson under a five-year managed services contract that saw around 400 staff joining Ericsson from the operator (Press release).
Sweden’s TV4 chooses Ericsson to operate play-out services
Swedish broadcaster TV4 Group has selected Ericsson to operate its nationwide play-out services as part of a 10-year contract. In addition, Ericsson and TV4 Group will establish a joint technology and business development forum (Press release).
UAE mobile operator du signs three-year managed services deal
United Arab Emirates-based operator du has signed a three-year managed services agreement with Ericsson, which will enable du to continue develop the operational efficiency of its nationwide GSM/WCDMA network (Press release).
ST-Ericsson and Ericsson first to achieve LTE and HSPA mobility with a multimode device
ST-Ericsson, a world leader in wireless platforms and semiconductors, and Ericsson have successfully achieved mobility between LTE and HSPA networks, using a multimode LTE/HSPA device. The interoperability was realized in live networks from Ericsson in Stockholm, Sweden, using a multimode device powered by ST-Ericsson’s platform, M710 (News story).
Corporate news
Ericsson acquires Italian integrator Pride Spa
Ericsson acquired Italian consulting and systems integration company Pride Spa, adding 1,000 systems integration experts to its global team of nearly 40,000 (Press release).
Gary Pinkham named as communications head in North America
Ericsson appointed Gary Pinkham as head of Corporate Affairs and Communications in North America. He is currently head of global Investor and Analyst Relations (Press release).
Mobile broadband reaches The Amazon
Ericsson and Brazilian operator Vivo are part of a group that will bring mobile broadband connectivity to the Amazonian state of Pará in Brazil. This will provide more than 30,000 people in 175 Amazon villages with access to e-health and e-education services (Press release).
Cesare Avenia appointed to new Chief Brand Officer position
Ericsson appointed Cesare Avenia to a new position in the group management team, Chief Brand Officer, where he will be responsible for driving the implementation of Ericsson’s new brand strategy (Press release).
Ericsson CTO Håkan Eriksson to spearhead IP innovation in Silicon Valley
Ericsson CTO Håkan Eriksson has been appointed as head of Ericsson in Silicon Valley, the center of the company’s strategically important Internet Protocol (IP) business. Eriksson will lead the work to further enhance Ericsson’s global position in fixed, mobile and Internet convergence (Press release).
World’s largest open university goes mobile
The classroom of the future is moving to mobile phones and reaching further into India thanks to a new partnership between Ericsson and The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). Ericsson is building a 3G environment for students to download IGNOU course content, and receive text alerts on their mobiles (Press release).
Latest white papers
Data retention: avoiding the traps
The complexities and the costs of complying with data retention rules and regulations must be carefully investigated by communication service providers before they make any investment decisions. This paper analyzes some common statements and shows their weaknesses (White paper).
Unlocking the value of operator assets
Telecom operators have a strong hand that, if played right, can be used to develop very attractive end-user services, as this white paper describes (White paper).
Assessing the climate-positive impact of ICT
This white paper outlines a holistic methodology for measuring CO2 emissions effectively (White paper).
For the latest Ericsson white papers, please click here.
Latest publications
Ericsson Business Review 03/2009
The latest edition of Ericsson Business Review, Ericsson’s thought-leading magazine on business strategies in telecoms, looks at the issue of shrinking revenues from voice, and discusses the meaning of value and how it is changing. To view the latest issue and to subscribe, please click here.
Events
9–12 February
MPLS World 2010
Paris, France
10 February
MPLS, MPLS transport and the development of ITU-T and IETF standards
Loa Andersson, Senior Strategy and Standards Manager
10 February
Avoiding overlay temptation and leveraging
MPLS-TP & IP-FRR to simplify network design
François Lemarchand, Director of Consulting Engineering
10 February
Panel debate on MPLS/MPLS-TP OAM issues
Loa Andersson, Senior Strategy and Standards Manager and Hector Avalos, Worldwide Solution Engineering Director
9–12 February
Ethernet Wholesale 2010
Paris, France
10 February
Session on Carrier Ethernet for mobile backhaul
Chairman: Hector Avalos, Worldwide Solution Engineering Director
10 February
Synchronization in packet networks for mobile backhaul and live network experiences
Stefano Ruffino, R&D expert
11 February
Role of IP/MPLS in mobile backhaul
Rishi Mehta, Senior Product Manager
11 February
MPLS as a convergence platform for LTE/EPC mobile networks
Hector Avalos, Worldwide Solution Engineering Director
11 February
Metro network expansion – proceed with caution
Sony Kogin, Product Manager
11 February
Panel debate on migration to LTE: impact on architectures
Hector Avalos, Worldwide Solution Engineering Director
15-18 February
Mobile World Congress
Barcelona, Spain
Briefing Sessions for Industry Analysts at Mobile World Congress
Session 1
1500 to 1600 CET, Tuesday, February 16
“This Is the Modern World: Mobile Network Modernization”
Presenters:
Jan Ögren, Vice President, Network Rollout, Ericsson Global Services
Christian Hedelin, Head of Product Marketing, Ericsson Radio
Join us for a look at the evolving and maturing services market and the challenges and opportunities operators around the world are facing as they modernize their networks.
Session 2
1630 to 1730 CET, Tuesday, February 16
“A Marathon and a Sprint: Managed Services”
Presenters:
Bob Azzi, Senior Vice President, Network Services, Sprint
Valter D'Avino, Vice President, Managed Services, Ericsson Global Services
This is your opportunity to hear directly from Sprint and Ericsson executives on the progress of their Network Advantage relationship.
Session 3
0930 to 1030 CET, Wednesday, February 17
“I Can’t Live Without My Radio: Mobile Broadband”
Presenter:
Ulf Ewaldsson, Vice President and Head of Radio, Ericsson
It wouldn’t be Mobile World Congress without a review of the progress of mobile broadband over the past year – and a look at things to come.
Session 4
1100 to 1200 CET, Wednesday, February 17
“Grow, Grow the Business: Applications and Multimedia Services Strategies”
Presenter:
Stefan Hedelius, Head of Strategy, Ericsson Multimedia
A look at the applications and services that will help service providers generate and increase revenues among their subscribers.
Session 5
1230 to 1330 CET, Wednesday, February 17
“Damn This Traffic Jam: Mobile Backhaul”
Presenter:
Don McCullough, Head of Marketing, IP and Broadband, Ericsson
More mobile broadband data traffic requires more backhaul capacity. Service providers need the right commercial and technical approach to manage the challenges of convergence, flexibility and cost-effectiveness. The path forward depends on where the service provider begins.
Attendance is strictly limited. Please register early to avoid disappointment at industry.analysts@ericsson.com
24-25 February
FTTH Council Conference Europe
Lisbon, Portugal
24 February
Building open access networks based on GPON
Pratyush Chitre, Technical Sales Support Manager – Broadband Access
23-25 March
International CTIA Wireless 2010
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
25 March
State of the Planet 2010
Columbia University, New York, USA
Speaker: Hans Vestberg, President and Chief Executive Officer
Contacts and further information
If you would like further information about any stories in this newsletter, or to arrange a briefing, please send an e-mail to industry.analysts@ericsson.com.
Ericsson's global industry analyst relations team is: Peter Olofsson (Global, EMEA), Eva E Andersson (EMEA, APAC). Rob Elston (Americas), Colleen Rosander (Americas). Please contact the person responsible for activities in the region in which you are based.
To sign up to receive Ericsson press releases, please click here.
Don't forget to check out the industry analyst web site http://www.ericsson.com/ericsson/industryanalysts.
