Ericsson has signed its 100th 5G commercial deal, a milestone in the telecommunications equipment maker's battle with Nokia and Huawei. The Swedish company signed its first partnerships in 2014, working with operators on trials of 5G New Radio (NR) technology, and the first commercial networks went into service four years later. The milestone of the century was reached thanks to an agreement with Telekom Slovenije to launch the first new generation Slovenian network last month. To date, the Ericsson kit is used in 58 commercial deployments worldwide, covering core and radio network technologies.
Ericsson 5G
"The needs of our customers have been at the heart of the development and evolution of Ericsson's 5G technology across our portfolio from the very beginning," said Börje Ekholm, CEO of Ericsson. “We are proud that this commitment has enabled 100 unique communications service providers around the world to select our technology to fuel their ambitions for 5G success. We continue to put our customers in the spotlight to help them deliver the benefits of 5G to their subscribers, industry, society, and countries as critical national infrastructure. Ericsson is increasingly confident in its prospects in the 5G era after carrier demand in the second quarter saw a 4% increase in network sales. The company has deals in Europe, North America and Asia. , especially in China, where it has entered into contracts with all three major Chinese carriers Strong momentum from network providers, carriers and the Chinese government means the country is expected to be one of the early leaders in 5G and offset any possible slowdown in the US and Europe caused by the coronavirus pandemic.As a result, Ericsson has increased its 5G forecast and predicts there will be 2.800 billion connections by 2025, 200 million more than previously estimated.