Ericsson Year in Review 2024: July to December

July: A global company

Ericsson was named a Leader in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for CSP 5G RAN Infrastructure Solutions, which recognized its commercial 5G leadership for the fourth consecutive year.

Ericsson and MTN joined forces to drive financial and gender inclusion in Kampala, Uganda through a three-week financial training for female entrepreneurs. In addition, Ericsson and the National Institute of Learning (INA) signed an agreement to promote economic development in Costa Rica through digital skills.

In mid-July, Ericsson and OPPO signed a multi-year global patent cross-license agreement, covering patents that are essential to standards for cellular technologies, including 5G.

Ericsson President and CEO, Börje Ekholm hosted the latest meeting for the CEO Alliance for Europe in Stockholm, where some of Europe’s largest companies urged regulators and policymakers to prioritize European economic growth through digitalization and sustainable development.

Staying in Europe, Ericsson announced the incorporation of POST Luxembourg’s Telecom Intrusion Detection System (TIDS) into its signaling security offering to ensure advanced signaling threat detection for mobile and mission-critical network customers.

Turning to Jordan, Ericsson and Umniah collaborated to significantly reduce the energy consumption of network operations across the country through Ericsson’s AI-powered Customer Support Service Continuity offering.

Advancing on its commitment to improve 5G connectivity and customer experience worldwide, Ericsson partnered with Vodafone to introduce compact antennas and promote network expansion in Germany, and collaborated with Optus to complete a world-first pilot using 5G Advanced Interference Sensing technology in Australia. Meanwhile, Canada witnessed the first live event Cloud RAN demo on a commercial 5G network, showcased by Ericsson and Rogers.

In another world-first innovation, Ericsson successfully implemented Automated Radio Resource Partitioning (RRP) on a 5G standalone network slice together with stc Group.

Ericsson and Turkcell announced a collaboration on W-band solutions to meet the increasing demand for broadband services and enhance mobile backhaul capacity.

Ericsson’s rApps portfolio was named the winner of the Red Dot Award for Design Concept 2024 in the Interaction, UI, and User Experience category.

As part of the commitment to bridging the digital divide in rural America, Ericsson and UScellular announced that they would use advanced cell-site router technology to provide rural communities with reliable 5G across the US. Meanwhile, NRTC, Southern Linc, and Anterix signed landmark agreements that will empower rural electric cooperatives to modernize the grid infrastructure and ensure uninterrupted service delivery.

Staying in the US, Ericsson welcomed a bilateral agreement between the Swedish and US governments regarding further cooperation in developing advanced wireless technologies, including 6G.

Turning to other regions, Ericsson and Telstra announced the world-first deployment of a new RAN compute platform to deliver fast, reliable, and efficient mobile connectivity in Australia. Meanwhile, Ericsson partnered with the Postal and Telecommunications Institute of Technology (PTIT) to accelerate Vietnam’s digital transformation by developing a skilled workforce through the Ericsson Educate platform.

In September, the focus shifted once again to Europe’s digital competitiveness. Börje Ekholm, Ericsson President and CEO, signed an open letter with business and technology leaders and researchers to draw the attention of policymakers and regulators to the fragmented regulations hindering AI development in Europe.

In another open letter, 19 European CEOs called on EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the College of Commissioners to take urgent action in shaping the European digital infrastructure.

On September 12, global telecom leaders, including Ericsson, T-Mobile, and Verizon, signed a landmark agreement and announced a new venture that would drive innovation and create new monetization opportunities for the industry by combining and selling network APIs globally.

“This is a historic and industry-defining announcement. It takes scale to get developers excited, and this will get developers excited,” said Niklas Heuveldop, CEO of Vonage and Head of Business Area Global Communications Platform at the Ericsson Enterprise Analyst Event in Boston.

Vonage, part of Ericsson, also announced a collaboration with SAP to help developers create new innovative applications through cutting-edge generative AI innovation, using Vonage’s Application Programming Interface (API) platform and SAP Business AI.

Ericsson shared its Enterprise 5G strategy and portfolio, which includes private 5G and neutral host solutions to help enterprises drive innovation, safety, and operational efficiencies. In a separate announcement, Ericsson also unveiled the launch of two innovative routers to leverage advanced technology in large-scale internet of things (IoT) and in-vehicle networks.

September also saw a collaboration announcement between Ericsson and INFORM to enhance financial services security by combining the capabilities of RiskShield, an advanced anti-money laundering and fraud management solution, and Ericsson’s Mobile Financial Services Platform.

Meanwhile, Ericsson also joined the Mobile Satellite Services Association (MSSA) to enhance mobile coverage globally by integrating terrestrial and space-based networks.While at InnoTrans 2024, a leading transport technology fair in Berlin, Ericsson showcased its latest mission-critical communications solutions.

Ericsson closed the third quarter being recognized as the leader for its core portfolio in Omdia Market Landscape for Core Vendors 2024 and Leader in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for CSP 5G Core Network Infrastructure Solutions.

Ericsson started October by introducing the industry’s first dedicated rApp directory to help communication service provider (CSP) customers and members of the Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform (EIAP) ecosystem explore the functionalities of rApps. Later in October, Ericsson reached its 50^th customer for its 5G charging solution and unveiled seven new 5G Advanced software products for high-performing programmable networks.

The month had many milestones for the partnership between Ericsson and Telstra. The companies achieved a new uplink speed record of 447 Mbps in a 5G standalone network, announced the world-first deployment of Ericsson Automated Configuration Consistency (EACC) rApp in a live commercial network, and successfully launched the 5G Advanced Automated Energy Saver (AES) to pave the way for sustainable 5G infrastructure management.

Highlighting its commitment to social responsibility, Ericsson partnered with the Nigerian government to support the country’s digital transformation through 5G technology development, deployment, and innovation.

Ericsson also announced the launch of the EricssonEdge Academia Program to develop the next generation of telecom professionals in Southeast Asia, Oceania, and India.

In the UK, Vodafone, Qualcomm, and Ericsson completed two successful 5G millimeter wave (mmWave) trials on enhancing connectivity and performance for wireless home broadband and crowded public venues.

Staying in Europe, Ericsson entered a major five-year partnership with MasOrange to help the Spanish CSP integrate Orange Spain’s and MASMOVIL’s existing networks through high-performing and sustainable network solutions.

Jenny Lindqvist, Senior Vice President and Head of Market Area Europe and Latin America, Ericsson, says: "With this agreement we look at the future where high-performance and differentiated networks will be key to digitalizing enterprises and society.”

Meanwhile, CETIN, O2 Czech Republic, and Ericsson successfully demoed the potential of the Reduced Capability (RedCap) solution to broaden 5G applications across various industries when used with commercial devices from original equipment manufacturers.

Turning to the Asia, Grameenphone completed one of the world’s largest deployments of Ericsson Mediation to improve customer billing experience for users across Bangladesh. In Malaysia, Ericsson and DNB won FutureNet Asia 2024 Award for enhancing 5G network management and resilience through the implementation of their AI intent-based operations solution.

The November 2024 Ericsson Mobility Report revealed valuable insights into how early adopters embrace new performance-based business models while the ConsumerLab report explored how generative AI applications drive consumer interest in high-performance and secure connectivity.

On November 7, Ericsson’s top executives and leaders showcased the cutting-edge D-15 innovation center to key analysts and industry partners and hosted conversations on the potential of open programmable networks in Silicon Valley.

At Innovate Asia 2024, Ericsson also demonstrated its 5G leadership and engaged with customers, including Grameenphone, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, Singtel, and Telstra, on the latest advancements shaping the future of connectivity.

Ericsson and Indosat announced the successful deployment of the world’s first full-stack Digital Monetization Platform (DMP) that will support the digital transformation of Indonesia by enabling real-time monetization and flexible service development.

In the United Arab Emirates, Ericsson and e& UAE completed one of the world’s first deployments of AIR 3229, Ericsson’s dual-band massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) radio, supporting e& UAE’s ongoing 5G network expansion while enhancing network performance and sustainability. The companies also signed a memorandum of understanding for 6G collaboration to unlock potential business cases and pave the way for future network evolution.

At the Singapore-Sweden Royal Business Forum, the National University Health System (NUHS) and Sahlgrenska University Hospital announced a strategic partnership with Ericsson, AstraZeneca, and Business Sweden, to launch the Global Health Innovation Network (GHIN).

Staying in Singapore, Singtel and Ericsson joined forces to meet the growing demand for global transshipment at Tuas Port through the deployment of 5G advanced connectivity solutions.

In Sri Lanka, Ericsson helped Dialog Axiata deploy the world’s first commercial virtual Base Station Controller, which will provide a seamless user experience and offer new opportunities for network modernization.

Turning to Europe, Ericsson and Orange Belgium completed an innovative 5G slicing automation project, using Ericsson Service Orchestration and Assurance to open new doors for 5G network orchestration.

Ericsson introduced its brand-new Compact Packet Core solution, which will enable CSPs to easily modernize their current networks.

“With this solution, we are providing a new approach for upgrading to cloud native and introducing 5G Core, built on our deep experience with the world’s most advanced networks,” said Monica Zethzon, Head of Solution Area Core Networks.

Ericsson also secured a multi-year extension deal to support Bharti Airtel’s network transformation by deploying centralized 4G and 5G RAN and Open RAN-ready solutions. This strategic partnership will ensure wider coverage and enhanced capacity for customers in India.

In Portugal, Ericsson and Vodafone teamed up to show how a 5G Standalone private network is transforming performance the world’s oldest cement plant.