Swedish telecommunications leader Ericsson has reached a new milestone: 100 commercial 5G agreements worldwide.
The company hit the 100-deal mark following the announcement of a 5G agreement with Telekom Slovenije.
Ericsson’s progress over the past year has been significant.
Less than a year ago, Ericsson had publicly announced 24 5G contracts with equipment live in 15 networks. Today, 58 contracts have been publicly disclosed and Ericsson equipment is deployed in 56 live 5G networks.
Börje Ekholm, President and CEO of Ericsson, commented:
“Our customers’ needs have been central to the development and evolution of Ericsson’s 5G technology across our portfolio from the very beginning. We are proud that this commitment has resulted in 100 unique communications service providers globally selecting our technology to drive their 5G success ambitions.
We continue to put our customers center stage to help them deliver the benefits of 5G to their subscribers, industry, society and countries as a critical national infrastructure.”
Ericsson’s momentum is partly linked to ongoing uncertainty about Huawei’s prospects in many Western countries, driven by security concerns.
Even before the UK formally moved to restrict Huawei’s equipment, several operators in Britain were transitioning away from the Chinese supplier.
In April, BT announced it would replace Huawei equipment with Ericsson gear for its 4G and 5G core network.
Howard Watson, BT’s Chief Technology and Information Officer, said at the time:
“Having evaluated different 5G core vendors, we have selected Ericsson as the best option on the basis of both lab performance and future roadmap.
We are looking forward to working together as we build out our converged 4G and 5G core network across the UK.”
In a London press conference earlier in the year, Huawei president Ryan Ding stated that Huawei had secured 91 commercial 5G contracts globally.
Meanwhile, Finland’s Nokia reports 85 commercial 5G deals with equipment live in 33 5G networks as of the latest publishing.
(Photo by Miguel Teirlinck on Unsplash)
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