5G, $20 mn facility, new radio system: Key announcements from Ericsson for Indian market

“By 2020, 95% of mobile Internet connectivity in India will be on 3G. LTE subscriptions in India are expected to reach more than 230 million by 2020, which will be around 17% of the total subscription base," Ericsson President and CEO Hans Vestberg said in a keynote at Ericsson Connect – the company’s flagship technology event in India. “However, the next level of innovation will come with 5G,” he added.

 “Strengthening our position as a leading software company as well as early leadership in the standardization and realization of the next generation of mobile networks, or 5G, are key factors of success."

[caption id=“attachment_2419572” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Ericsson President and CEO Hans Vestberg[/caption]   The Ericsson Chief made the company’s focus on 5G, IoT, and cloud clear. “The ICT sector is well on its way to capturing the opportunities this brings to people, business and society. Building on its unique position in mobility, Ericsson continues to focus its R&D on developing leadership positions also beyond mobile networks to include the areas of IP networks, cloud, OSS/BSS, TV & Media, and Industry & Society.” Vestberg and his team are in India – which is Ericsson’s third largest market in terms of revenue – to make some product announcements for the Indian market. Some of the key announcements made during the event are: – The company has signed four-year agreement with Bharti Airtel to expand its 3G network across eight telecom circles in the country. This is Ericsson’s first 4G network using LTE-FDD technology in Delhi. Apart from Delhi, Ericsson will deploy LTE network in 4 other circles. As part of the network, Ericsson will supply, install and manage services. – Ericsson, which plans to make India an export hub for their telecom products, is putting in $20 million in its second manufacturing facility in India. The company is building its second unit in Pune to make radio equipment, which would be exported to about 180 countries. The facility is expected to be ready by second quarter of 2016. – The telecom major, which currently has 21,000 employees in India, plans to double its India headcound over the next few years. Here are some product announcements: Ericsson announced the launch of its next-generation of Radio System. The system, launched keeping in mind the Indian requirements, aims to keep telecom operators prepared for 5G. It reduces site acquisition issues and delivers three times the capacity density with a 50 percent improvement in energy efficiency. “With the Ericsson Radio System, total cost of ownership will reduce by 20 per cent,” the company said. The company also launched its next major software Ericsson Networks Software 16A which will feature a new suite of LTE software upgrades targeting the indoor space. The new suite features advances in uplink and downlink performance – boosting network uplink speeds by up to 200 percent, downlink speeds by up to 30 percent and adding LTE Unlicensed (LTE-U), the first commercial step in Licensed Assisted Access – as well as features to support greater energy efficiency of small cells. Networks Software 16A also includes LTE-U, to drive higher performance. LTE-U enables operators to combine the reliability of licensed spectrum with indoor data speed boosts provided by unlicensed spectrum. Ericsson launched HDS 8000 – a hyperscale upgrade to Ericsson Cloud System that adds new software and hardware. “The Ericsson HDS 8000 is built with advanced automation capabilities that take datacentres and central offices to a new level of cloud economics, security and efficiency.” In addition, the company introduced new IoT Networks Software – 16B.  The new software supports LTE Category 0 with half-duplex operation in FDD, which effectively limits functionality and capability to those specifically required for IoT applications, such as large-scale sensor and smart meter deployments.