The troubled equipment and software vendor offered this forecast yesterday during a presentation of its 5G platform, which it claimed was the first that includes radio and core network.
The platform will “support the beginning of a huge change in network capabilities, allowing our customers to offer more advanced use cases and new business models to their customers”, said Arun Bansai, head of the company’s network products business unit.
“It is an important milestone enabling operators to continue their evolution journey to 5G,” he added.
The company, which last month reported sales down 10% year on year, said its 5G core system was based on network slicing, allowing an operator to provide dedicated virtual networks with functionality specific to the service or customer over a common network.
Verizon CTO Roger Gurnani endorsed Ericsson’s strategy. “We are pleased with the progress Ericsson is making in advancing 5G technology commercially. Our customer trials with 5G technology in 11 cities across the US is an important step in accelerating the path to the next generation of wireless services.”
The equipment vendor has demonstrated network slicing in a trial with Deutsche Telekom of Germany and SK Telecom of South Korea. The network slices were made available in each other’s footprint.
Further endorsement came from Swisscom. Daniel Staub, head of its joint mobile group, said: “Ericsson’s new 5G portfolio opens up new opportunities.”
