Ericsson and MTN South Africa win Building a Better, More Inclusive, Digital World award at AfricaCom 2020

Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) and MTN South Africa have won the Building a Better, More Inclusive, Digital World award at AfricaCom 2020 for their collaboration to launch 5G in South Africa.

Our partnership with MTN South Africa dates back to 1994 with the deployment of MTN’s mobile system networks. Ever since then, our partnership has continued to grow through building the ICT infrastructure of the country hand-in-hand. The most recent collaboration has seen MTN partner with Ericsson to upgrade and deploy a 5G 3GPP compliant EPC core network in South Africa. With this partnership, MTN has now launched commercial 5G in South Africa with the network now accessible to subscribers via 5G-ready devices, which enables them to benefit from the new generation of connectivity. Our commitment to South Africa is unwavering and together with MTN we are able to offer the country various telecom solutions from 2G all the way to 5G. Ericsson was announced as an MTN South Africa vendor in April 2019, to deploy products and solutions spanning its radio access network (RAN) Ericsson Radio System and microwave accesstransport. Ericsson have also deployed 3G/4G/5G Ericsson Spectrum Sharing features in the MTN network. MTN South Africa went live with commercial 5G in Bloemfontein and Port Elizabeth on 30 June 2020.

In recognition of the significant contribution made by Africa’s tech community in the ongoing battle against COVID-19, and the critical role that tech will play in fueling Africa’s economic recovery, the AfricaCom 2020 categories fall under the central theme: building a better, more inclusive digital world. This award recognizes organizations and initiatives that have made a significant contribution to helping build a more accessible and inclusive digital world. The award is presented to the nominees that have received the highest number of votes in the category.

Ericsson at AfricaCom 2020

At AfricaCom 2020, Ericsson will present innovative solutions to improve the efficiency of its customers’ network operations, allowing them to focus on new services and technologies, and ultimately improve the experience for the user. The pre-event bespoke roundtable discussing digital connectivity in schools will be held on the 9^th of November. On the 10^th of November, President of Ericsson Middle East and Africa, Fadi Pharaon will set #AfricaInMotion in a keynote speech, followed by a presentation by Ericsson Middle East and Africa’s Head of Networks Chafic Traboulsi focusing on ‘5G Progress and Prospects in Africa’ and concluding the day with a workshop focusing on ‘Virtual Leaders in Africa Summit 2020’ by Vice Presidents of Ericsson Middle East and Africa Nora Wahby, Nicolas Blixell and Todd Ashton. On the final day, Lucky La Ricca, Head of Digital Services in Ericsson Middle East and Africa will speak about ‘Smarter networks accelerating Africa’s digital agenda’ followed by a presentation by Eva Andrén, Head of Managed Services in Ericsson

Middle East and Africa on ‘Applying AI Automation Across the Entire Lifecycle of Network Operations and concluding the day with a continuation of the workshop on ‘Virtual Leaders in Africa Summit 2020’.