Ericsson recently hosted its flagship technology showcase event, Barcelona Unboxed event in Mumbai, India. Ericsson shared findings of a research report that the company has done. It indicates that consumers are waiting for 5G and one in three smartphone users in India will change either immediately or within six months to a service provider that switches on 5G.
Ericsson´s 5G platform plays an instrumental role, as the most complete portfolio set out to deliver on the promises of 5G. With the Ericsson 5G platform, service providers can evolve their network from 4G to 5G in a smart and dynamic way and build performance with precision, maximize automation in operations and leverage AI to cope with complexity and monetize both evolving existing use cases as well as develop new ones, across Mobile Broadband, Fixed Wireless Access and IoT. 5G networks are now live across many markets globally and Ericsson is leading the way with 18 publicly announced deals with customer names. Globally, Ericsson has already shipped 3 million 5G hardware ready radios till now.
In India, Ericsson has won new deals in the year so far. These include the deployment of 5G ready LTE equipment with Vodafone Idea Limited, VoLTE expansion with Bharti Airtel and a partnership with Bharti Airtel to build real-world AI use cases for Network Operations.
Ericsson showcased a wide variety of innovative concepts, industry-leading product demonstrations as well as tools and technologies that will run and manage tomorrow’s 5G networks at Barcelona Unboxed in Mumbai. The Company showcased an innovative concept, Radio Stripes – which offer high and robust radio performance and enables easy and flexible deployment of mobile networks. It is a visionary mobile network design that is super-distributed and has the potential to deliver better quality, as well as making for easier deployment. At a nearly invisible form factor, it enables truly ubiquitous high capacity radio everywhere. The Company also showcased a host of other demonstrations and use cases across 5G and IoT, including Ericsson Spectrum Sharing, Intelligent Managed Services and Communication on Smart Devices. Ericsson ‘Made for India’ radio solutions including Massive MIMO and indoor solutions comprising of small cells and microcells were also showcased at the event.
The new operating model for Managed Services is called Ericsson Operations Engine. It refers to the end-to-end model for how Managed Services shall sell, deliver and operate its business. It supports all solution areas in Managed Services and includes mandatory policies and recommended guidelines end to end – from customer engagements, through contracts, how we build and deliver, operate, govern, optimize, measure, release and maintain the model itself.
Further, Ericsson is working towards collaborative IoT i.e. to provide connectivity to any device and developer tools to share the information across several ecosystem partners. Lastly, Ericsson Spectrum Sharing is a key network function that will allow a smooth introduction of 5G on existing 4G frequencies in a service provider’s network, securing the best possible use of their spectrum assets and installed base. With a simple software installation, operators will be able to activate 5G on their existing Ericsson Radio System infrastructure (radios and RAN Compute equipment), that we already started to deliver in 2015.
According to Thiaw Seng Ng, Head of Network Evolution, Ericsson South East Asia, Oceania and India, “Based on our technology leadership, robust R&D investments and global scale, we are well positioned to partner Indian telecom operators as they plan their 5G journey. Our industry leading 5G platform provides our customers with the products and services needed to manage the increased traffic growth, simplify their operations and to secure their 5G revenues.”
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