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Ericsson MWC 2024 Barcelona Executive Q&A - Åsa Tamsons

At MWC 2024 we caught up with Ericsson Senior Vice President Åsa Tamsons, who was recently appointed Head of Business Area (BA) Enterprise Wireless Solutions, to talk about BA priorities and opportunities. 

Åsa Tamsons

Tamsons assumed her new role in November 2023, following her tenure as the head of Business Area Technologies and New Businesses, which she held since joining Ericsson in 2018.

Business Area Enterprise Wireless Solutions’ portfolio includes Cradlepoint, an Ericsson-owned company that focuses on Wireless WAN along with its zero-trust end-to-end security technology. It also encompasses a broad portfolio of 4G and 5G private network solutions.

1. What are Business Area Enterprise Wireless Solutions (including Cradlepoint) priorities for the year ahead?

As we move forward in 2024, the business has identified several strategic priorities. These include Market leading growth – to continue secure our market leadership by serving our customers with the best WWAN edge , private networks and deliver cloud-based SASE solutions that provide the agility and confidence to enterprises to operate and grow anywhere.

We continue to invest in our product portfolio that will drive innovation and differentiation to meet the enterprise needs and you will see more security, integrated AI, more quality of service and more management simplicity in our product launches across the portfolio throughout 2024.

Partner excellence is another important area to ensure that we support our partners in the best way to drive success in the market. Their success is ours. In 2024 you will see us continue drive relevant enablement programs and success with our channel partner ecosystem, while also broadening our partnerships in the OT and security space.

To unite under one brand is another priority. You will see our enterprise portfolio unite under the Ericsson brand in 2024, starting with our presence in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress.

2. Private 5G solutions for enterprises of all sizes is one of the main focuses of your business area. In timeline terms, how do you see the journey to use cases being embraced at scale and generating significant revenues for Ericsson?

Our private cellular journey begins by learning from our end customers and partners, understanding needs, identifying key use cases, and removing friction from their entire private cellular journey enabling them to focus on digitalization.

Private cellular networks – or PCN - serve as a foundation, providing secure infrastructure, exceptional performance, and reliable connectivity to business, industry, and mission-critical applications. Ericsson, with a leading PCN solutions portfolio and a collaborative partner ecosystem, delivers end-to-end solutions at scale.

Key use cases leveraging private cellular drive efficiencies, enable enhanced productivity, and support safer worker conditions. A robust ecosystem of channel, device, and application providers on our connectivity platforms is essential, covering ‘simple’ use cases such as scanners in warehouses for inventory management, to AR/VR applications used for remote trouble shooting, remote controlled vehicles and equipment, or fully automated operations.

In 2024, private cellular networks are expected to scale significantly, following pivotal validations in 2022 and tangible value demonstrations in 2023. Early adopters and innovators in manufacturing, logistics, mining, transportation, sports and entertainment, and natural resources will pave the way, emphasizing the importance of embracing private cellular as a competitive advantage.

3. What are you hearing from the industry and potential customers about Ericsson’s Private Networks and Wireless WAN capabilities and potential?

The most exciting feedback we are hearing are the hands-on stories about the transformation enterprises can undergo when they have the confidence to connect assets and data anywhere - reliably and securely.

For instance, organizations are using Wireless WAN to turn up full-blown offices in vehicles, using computer vision to monitor intersections, parking, and theft, as well as providing touchless checkout and AI-assisted recycling assistance.

Organizations are turning up storefronts and creating temporary sites in record time with the benefit of day-one deployment, thanks to cellular networking. And diverse connections through the air and ground can provide fixed sites with reliable and secure connections to cloud applications to run their operations.

As for private networks, agencies and businesses now have the confidence to operate local networks in demanding environments with the reach, reliability, and security of cellular technology. They are demonstrating real productivity improvements, cost savings, and increased employee safety through their use of private networks. The extreme low-latency, accurate location, and mobility options offered by private 5G has resulted in changes to how business can operate, connect to their customers, and produce products. And we expect the use to continue to grow as Ericsson leads the way on simplifying deployment and management of these networks.

As the market and ecosystem continues to grow, offering solutions to a growing array of use cases, we anticipate witnessing unprecedented levels of efficiency and innovation from our customers.

This translates into tangible benefits for consumers, with the delivery of superior and diverse goods and services in shorter timeframes, with better quality, and at more cost-efficient rates. Moreover, these advancements are achieved with reduced energy consumption or environmental impact, thereby contributing positively to sustainability efforts.

4. You are exhibiting as ’Enterprise Wireless Solutions’ at MWC 2024. Can you tell us more about that?

Our enterprise portfolio is comprised of solutions that can expand your business to new places, and in new ways. With 5G at the center of our solutions, companies can safely and efficiently create offices on wheels, use computer vision for safety and efficiency, create agile manufacturing environments and digitize business in challenging environments.

At Mobile World Congress, Ericsson is proud to present a comprehensive, 5G-powered, enterprise-wide portfolio of network and security products and solutions, alongside many of our partners, showcasing our collaborative efforts in working together to tackle a multitude of use cases.

Our newly announced X10 Business Internet solution – Fixed Wireless Access for enterprises - 5G small business router enables carriers to easily monetize on this rapidly expanding small/medium enterprise market. We are making it easy for CSPs to offer reliable, scalable and secure connectivity while being able to offer tiered services based on quality and security.

Within the private networks exhibit area, visitors will witness the transformative power of connecting assembly lines in manufacturing via connected tools, connecting workers in natural resources through AR/VR, enhancing port operations by enabling predictive maintenance and collision detection with private 5G, and much more.

This exciting portfolio of enterprise wireless solutions, along with the other enterprise offerings from Ericsson, are helping drive growth in Ericsson and offering additional opportunity for our CSP customers to monetize their cellular investment.

5. What else is Business Area Enterprise Wireless Solutions/Cradlepoint hoping to achieve at MWC 2024?

We look forward to demonstrating the tangible business impact on transformation for enterprises using our 5G powered enterprise solutions. We also hope to meet with as many of our partners and customers as we can, and discuss how we best can support them in 2024 in reaping the benefits of our portfolio.

We will also share our commitment to the continued development of our portfolio, and to the growth of our partner ecosystem, which enables us to address a wider range of use cases.

Feel welcome to join the #ericssonmwc conversation at #mwc24