Ericsson Year in Review 2023: July to December

Landing the largest financial deal in your history to date is a nice way for any company to round-off the working year. That was the case for Ericsson in December 2023 through its major new strategic agreement with AT&T in the U.S. Join us for the second part of our look back at Ericsson news in 2023-July to December – and read about some of Ercsson's other business, technology and partnership successes.

News

Dec 29, 2023

#EricssonNews #EricssonInReview #Ericsson2023

Ericsson In Review 2023 - July - December news photo collage.

Note: In case you missed it, feel welcome to check out part one of our 2023 overview, Ericsson Year in Review 2023: January to June

July: Connectivity, collaboration and Pride

In July, Ericsson and Swisscom achieved a significant feat with the first-time deployment of the Radio Dot System’s new fiber-extended reach feature.

The month also brought news of a groundbreaking functionality, supported by Ericsson’s core network software, enabling users to request a 5G network slice for enhanced performance on Android 14 devices. And building on recent milestones, Ericsson and chipset partner MediaTek once again raised the bar on industry uplink speed with a record-setting 565 Mbps throughput.

Meanwhile, Telia reached a significant milestone of achieving 99 percent geographical 5G coverage in Lithuania in partnership with Ericsson.

Ericsson revealed its plans to build a next-generation smart manufacturing and technology hub in Europe to serve as a collaborative space for co-developing new cellular ecosystems and production techniques.

A spotlight was shone on Africa with the release of the Future of Work Life – Africa Edition report from Ericsson Consumer & IndustryLab. The report delves into how employees and employers in Africa navigate the evolving work landscape, shaped by the pandemic, digitalization and fluctuating labor market trends.

July was also a time for celebration. Ericsson proudly showcased the strength of its diversity and the uniqueness of its employees at the annual Stockholm Pride festival, held in Stockholm from July 31 to August 5.

August: Accelerating technological skills

August brought forth exciting announcements in the realm of education and skills development. Ericsson and Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC) announced the launch of a Center of Excellence (CoE) at Delhi Skill & Entrepreneurship University (DSEU) to upskill students on next generation technologies.

Ericsson and RMIT University signed in the presence of the Swedish and Australian Ambassadors to Vietnam an agreement to launch the RMIT & Ericsson AI Lab at RMIT's campus in Hanoi.

Commitment to sustainability took center stage with Ericsson spearheading initiatives to drive sustainability improvements in its supply chain through the adoption of plastic-free packaging. The new packaging materials designed for Ericsson Remote Radio products are fully recyclable and reduce total plastic content from 20 percent to less than one percent.

In connectivity, Ericsson's prowess in 5G Carrier Aggregation hit a high note, achieving a download speed of 5.7Gbps by combining six component carriers in the world's first 6CC (component carrier) data call.

Simultaneously, Ericsson and Vodafone completed a live 5G Standalone network slicing trial for cloud-gaming, confirming a 5G Standalone network slice can enhance mobile gaming, with gamers experiencing more stable connectivity, increased speeds, lower latency, less jitter and smoother graphics rendering.

And the month ended with recognition as Ericsson received the 2023 Google Cloud Industry Solution Technology Partner of the Year Award for Telecommunications.

September: Regional events

September unfolded with the announcement that Ericsson's widespread deployment of 5G mid-band technology would provide connectivity for fans attending the Rugby World Cup in France.

Meanwhile, a new troubleshooting capability, powered by machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) was launched in Ericsson Expert Analytics to deliver speed and efficiency in network analytics.

In a month marked by significant regional events, Ericsson reiterated its commitment for digital acceleration and driving sustainable growth in Africa through its participation at Mobile World Congress Kigali 2023.

Turning to the Asian landscape, Ericsson showcased 5G possibilities at Imagine Live Malaysia 2023. Some of the highlights of the technology showcase included energy-efficient radio solutions, digital twins, and network automation.

October: Spotlight on India

October unfolded as an important month for India, where Ericsson spearheaded impactful technological and research endeavors and unveiled key insights into user behavior in the country. In a significant collaboration, Airtel in partnership with Ericsson successfully tested India’s first Reduced Capability technology on its 5G network. The solution brings down complexity and extends the battery life of devices while delivering higher data rates/speeds.

Ericsson also launched its India 6G program with the formation of an India 6G Research Team at its Chennai R&D Center.

The release of Ericsson's report, 5G Value: Turning Performance into Loyalty, conducted by Ericsson Consumer Lab, provided insights into the drivers of 5G network satisfaction and user retention in India.

Projections indicated that in 2023, 31 million users in India are expected to upgrade to 5G phones. The report further highlighted that 5G consumers are three times more likely to switch providers due to subpar connectivity experiences at major venues, including stadiums, arenas, and airports.

The 10th edition of the Microwave Outlook report – the 2023 edition - was also released this month. Key topics include the potential of E-band to fulfill the backhaul capacity needs of most 5G deployments beyond 2030 and how AI and automation can lower operational costs of transport networks.

Ericsson’s dedication to maintaining the highest network security standards for its Transport and 5G Core network products was reinforced by the results of the Network Equipment Security Assurance Scheme (NESAS) and Security Assurance Scheme (SCAS) evaluations.

Closing the month on a triumphant note, Ericsson was ranked as the number one digital wallet platform vendor by Juniper Research in their Digital Wallets report, and the Ericsson Wallet Platform was awarded ‘Best Digital Wallet Platform’ at the Future Digital Awards for Fintech & Payments 2023 presented by Juniper Research.

November: Collaborating and innovating

November was another productive month for Ericsson in collaboration and innovation. Kicking off the month, Ericsson scored highest in the 5G Core for Consumer Business use case of the November 2023 Gartner® Critical Capabilities for 5G Network Infrastructure for Communications Service Providers report.

Ericsson and MediaTek achieved an industry-first, 3GPP-compliant data call on 6 GHz 5G NR as part of efforts to build a global ecosystem for this spectrum. Ericsson also launched an intelligent, cloud-native transport controller that uses AI and ML to analyze and automate microwave, IP and optical networks, providing service providers with an advanced solution for maximizing mobile transport network efficiency.

Simultaneously, the announcement of the latest generation of processors in the Ericsson RAN Compute portfolio reinforced the company's dedication to empowering service providers in optimizing current and future radio access technology evolutions. The most advanced RAN Compute products to date are powered by Ericsson Silicon and built for the network demands of 5G Advanced and enhanced AI algorithms. Ericsson also announced that its Cloud RAN solution can support and run on Red Hat OpenShift, giving service providers more flexibility in their choice of cloud platform.

The November 2023 edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report was released and insights included an estimate that there will be 610 million new 5G subscriptions for the calendar year 2023 - a 63 percent increase on 2022. – and forecast that 85 percent of the global population will have 5G coverage access by the end of 2029.

December: Ericsson’s largest deal

The year closed strongly with news of a deal which is the largest financially in Ericsson’s history when it was announced that Ericsson and AT&T are collaborating in an industry-defining roughly USD 14 billion five-year network transformation and digitalization strategic agreement to pioneer the path to programmable and intelligent networks of the future.

Global company CJ Logistics announced it had partnered with Ericsson to deploy the first full-scale commercial private 5G network within its logistics sector in South Korea.

Staying in Asia, Ericsson and Southeast Asia service provider Datastream Digital Sdn Bhd (DST) signed a deal to elevate DST’s customer interaction application to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud.

Australia’s TPG Telecom successfully migrated its consumer and business 4G and 5G data services onto a single, consolidated core network provided by Ericsson's dual-mode 5G Core solution, while in Singapore Singtel completed the country’s first trial of reduced capability technology, also known as RedCap.

In Malaysia, Ericsson and DNB successfully conducted a proof of concept in the use of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and automation.

In Latin America, Fixed Wireless Access was in focus through an internet connectivity initiative to bridge the digital divide in remote Costa Rica, while in the Caribbean, One Communications launched Bermuda’s first 5G network – powered by Ericson.

There was exciting 5G news in Australia where Ericsson and not-for-profit organization AgriBusiness Connect are pursuing 5G enterprise potential across the agriculture value chain.

Across in Europe, Orange Spain and Ericsson are partnering to provide private 5G for B2B customers, while Three Ireland is trialing Ericsson Standalone 5G.

Selected July to December Ericsson news links

Ericsson and Swisscom deploy new Radio Dot System feature

Ericsson brings on-demand network slicing capability to Android 14 devices

New record upload speed to benefit FWA market - Ericsson

Telia achieves 99 percent 5G coverage in Lithuania - Ericsson

Ericsson to build next-gen European manufacturing & tech hub

Flexibility and technology changing work in Africa - Ericsson

Ericsson celebrates diversity at Stockholm Pride

Ericsson and Telecom Sector Skill Council set up Center of Excellence in India

Ericsson and RMIT University to establish AI Lab in Vietnam

Ericsson tests plastic-free packaging with DT and Swisscom

Ericsson hits 5.7Gbps record speed in downlink 6CC data call