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Tag: Ericsson

  • Ericsson’s AHUB to connect innovators, angel investors

    Ericsson’s AHUB to connect innovators, angel investors

    Ericsson has said it will be hosting an innovation station named “Ericsson AHUB” in partnership with Informa at AfricaCom 2015, Cape Town, 17- 19 November. The innovation station will bring together Africa’s leading entrepreneurs, tech start-ups and angel investor communities to encourage investment and showcase talent in the technology sector.

    This initiative extends Ericsson’s commitment to driving the Networked Society in Africa through innovation.

    Its Vice President for Strategy, Marketing and Communications in sub-Saharan Africa, Tumi Chamayou said mobile penetration on the continent has given rise to innovation which presents for private and public sectors of the continent:

    She said: “The mobile penetration in Africa has led to an emergence of innovations and presents significant opportunities for both the private and public sectors. Ericsson has been supporting innovation globally and locally with a number of initiatives, including the Ericsson Innovation Awards. We believe the Ericsson AHUB will create a platform that will try and fill the gap that exists between innovation and funding.”

    With the absence of conventional structures to provide young people with access to sponsorship opportunities, and in getting start-ups off the ground, the Ericsson AHUB will help create a platform to help tech-startups present their solutions to a range of investors.

    Innovative companies grow where there are ecosystems in place, as this is what most guarantees a return on investment (RoI). Through the innovation station, Ericsson is playing a part in creating an environment conducive to innovation that will address specific African challenges.

    Africa has embraced a number of innovations that are tackling Africa’s common challenges. Inventions which harness the power of mobile have empowered farmers to access important agricultural information, students to attend online universities via smartphones, nurses to share maternal health information and fight Ebola, and consumers to access financial services via mobile phones.

    Ericsson drives innovation across the communications spectrum. Through an annual investment of $5 billion in research and development (R7D), Ericsson has been at the forefront of some of mobile technology’s most significant advancements.

    According to the latest Ericsson Mobility Report, the total number of mobile subscriptions in Q1 this year was around 910 million for all of Africa, including 21 million new subscriptions. The increase in mobile ownership has led to the rise of innovative solutions in different sectors, from education to transportation, from healthcare to farming.

    The Ericsson AHUB aims to ensure that innovative ideas from the region are recognized and supported for the better growth of the economy.

     

  • Telcos’ success strategies, by Ericsson, E&Y study

    Telcos’ success strategies, by Ericsson, E&Y study

    Ericsson and Earnest & Young (E&Y) have collaborated to identify three distinct strategies adopted by successful mobile operators, dubbed Frontrunners.

    According to them, successful operators share a common focus on network performance and customer experience; differentiation, innovation and technology approaches vary by strategy

    Frontrunner revenues grew at 9.6 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR), their competitors at 2.7 per cent, while average in markets with no Frontrunners is -1.4 per cent (2010-2014)

    With traditional revenues under pressure and mobile data use soaring, operators have been forced to evolve both their networks and their business models. Some have been more successful than others. A study from Ericsson, in collaboration with Ernst and Young, has identified and classified these operators as Frontrunners. Between 2010 and 2014, Frontrunners enjoyed a 9.6 percent CAGR while competitors in their markets achieved only 2.7 percent.

    In undertaking this research, the results of which are launched , Ericsson has identified three distinct strategies adopted by Frontrunners. Significantly, what is good for the end user is also good for the operator.

    Frontrunner strategies are quality-led progression: These Frontrunners differentiate through high-performing networks and high brand preference; market-led adaptation: includes Frontrunners that differentiate through quick adaptation to market conditions; and offering-led transformation which refers to Frontrunners that differentiate by being first to enter the market with uniquely designed offerings

    The study also showed a number of ways in which Frontrunners are similar including their views on connectivity and services as differentiators rather than commodities, and their focus on innovating new revenue streams rather than maximizing old ones. Frontrunners display greater interaction between marketing and technical roles, rather than the traditional silos, and they leverage network performance by either utilizing superior network performance as a differentiator or by improving network performance to meet customer expectations.

    Speaking on the study, Executive Director of Nordic Advisory, EY, Martin Sebelius, said: “We clearly see that despite their different strategies, frontrunner operators share a common commitment to network quality. Not surprisingly, Frontrunners constantly seek new ways of challenging industry conventions to make connectivity more relevant to people, business and society.”

    Research Director, Mobile Infrastructure and Carrier Economics, Infonetics Research, now part of IHS Inc., Stéphane Téral, said: “This is a well-reasoned study that helps operators in different markets answer the universal question of where to invest and generate returns. Operators are trying to keep up with the growth in data traffic while facing significant economic conditions, including flat-to-declining revenue in often saturated markets. As it provides a nuanced view drawing on a global scope, this study is exactly what is needed for operators to thrive in any market condition.

    “In addition, mobile consumers are very savvy today and understanding what makes operators tick can help them make better decisions as to where to lock in their subscriptions — I think this study could be as interesting to consumers as it is to operators.”

    Head, Radio Strategic and Tactical Marketing, Ericsson, Patrik Cerwall said:: “We wanted to understand what makes operators successful in order to be the best partner to our customers. It may sound self-serving, but Frontrunners focus on growth, both enhancing the core business while at the same time exploring new markets and capabilities to secure future revenues, such as IoT (Internet of Things) and vertical solutions.

    “The journey toward 5G in 2020 will be marked by both new technology advances and new business models, but that transformation really started with the shift from voice to data-driven networking. The operators who are managing that transition successfully may provide the blueprint for success in 5G.”

  • Ericsson, Tigo, others partner on community empowerment

    Ericsson, Tigo, others partner on community empowerment

    Ericsson, Tigo and Coca-Cola have partnered to float a programme they said would empower rural communities.

    The pilot project will bring mobile connectivity to EKOCENTER, a social enterprise initiative designed to empower community well-being by bringing safe water, solar power and mobile communications, as well as basic goods and services to underserved communities.  The pilot project will be conducted in collaboration with Tigo Rwanda and German start-up company, Solarkiosk.

    Chief Sustainability Officer, Coca-Cola Company, Beatriz Perez, said: “EKOCENTER is an innovative social enterprise that endeavors to help communities thrive by providing further access to resources.  Engaging new partners to join this journey adds skills and expertise beyond our core enhancing the value for the people in these communities. Connectivity has become a fundamental part of thriving communities and economies. We’re excited about the solutions Ericsson can deliver to EKOCENTER, solutions we believe will foster positive change.”

    Vice President Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility at Ericsson, Elaine Weidman-Grunewald, also said about the initiative:  “Mobile broadband can address a wide range of issues that hinder development – from poverty to lack of electricity and safe water, to financial exclusion and gender inequality”.

  • How to overcome site acquisition challenge, by Ericsson chief

    How to overcome site acquisition challenge, by Ericsson chief

    Ericsson said telcos could overcome the challenges of site acquisition, high cost of energy on running base transmission stations (BTS) and offer superior services through its new Radio System.

    Its Country Manager, Nigeria, Kamar Abass, who spoke in Lagos during the unveiling of the technology, said the Ericsson Radio System (ERS) modular architecture has changed how mobile networks are built with flexibly expanding to shifting demands on the road to 5G

    He explained that in big cities, such as New York, the air space above buildings is valuable real estate, stressing that where there is no room to build out, urban planners build upward.

    According to him, Ericsson is opening up the same opportunity to operators struggling with site acquisition challenges in densely populated areas, allowing them to utilize wall space in existing sites and safely add five-times the capacity to towers.

    He said the new modular Radio System, scheduled for global unveiling at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, will redefine how mobile networks are built on every level.

    He explained that the Ericsson Radio System’s modular architecture flexibly expands to changing demands on the road to 5G with multi-standard, multi-band and multi-layer technology, eliminating site acquisition issues, delivering three times the capacity density with 50 per cent improvement in energy efficiency. The system will give network operators the infrastructure they need to support growing mobile data needs, which are expected to reach 25 Exabytes per month by 2020, when 5G is expected to be commercialised. The new portfolio reduces total cost of ownership (TCO) by 20 per cent, he added.

  • Improper management of e-waste harmful, say MTN, Ericsson

    Improper management of e-waste harmful, say MTN, Ericsson

    MTN and Ericsson have said electronic waste or e-waste not recycled properly is an under acknowledged environmental hazard around the world, lamenting that Africa, particularly West Africa, is one of the more highly affected continents.This is because large quantities of end-of-life materials from around the world end up at dumps in the sub-region.

    The two firms said they have partnered to jointly step up awareness campaign about the health hazards improperly managed e-waste potentially has on man and the environment.

    Ericsson said it has partnered the telco under the Ecology Management Programme, to launch the first electrical and electronic equipment waste (e-waste) collection and awareness drive in Benin. This campaign is geared towards creating awareness and minimising the potential environmental impact associated with the disposal of decommissioned electrical and electronic equipment in the country.

    This project provides a sound platform for raising awareness and discussing these issues and proffering solutions to how best they could addressed.

    MTN Benin CEO, Malik Melamu, said global e-waste level is expected to increase 33 per cent by 2017.

    He said:  “Research shows that the world’s e-waste level reached 48.9 million tons during 2012 and is expected to increase 33 per cent by 2017. With our company’s commitment to being socially responsible, this challenge has caught our attention. We are leveraging on Ericsson’s wealth of experience in electronic waste management to not only evacuate the waste but also educate the general public and all key stakeholders about the importance of proper disposal of the growing electronic waste in the country and the world.”

    According to the firms, a collection depot with a 20-foot container has been opened at Stade de l’Amitié de Kouhounou, Cotonou, Benin Republic. It will be operational for one month with the invitation to the general public to use the opportunity to properly dispose off  all forms of electronic waste.

    MTN will dispose off all e-waste including old equipment purchased from Ericsson and at the close of the campaign, collected e-waste will be transported to an Ericsson-approved recycling partner in Durban, South Africa.

  • Ericsson gives smartphone users indoor boost

    Ericsson gives smartphone users indoor boost

    Tech giant, Ericsson, has introduced long-term evolution (LTE) to unlicensed spectrum on small cells to deliver data-speed boost to smartphones.

    The firm in a statement said the innovation helps to improve app coverage for all smartphone users, increasing speeds on License Assisted Access (LAA)-enabled devices, reducing wireless network congestion and ensuring fair sharing between LTE and Wi-Fi.

    The firm said it efficiently combines licensed and unlicensed spectrum, addressing a key milestone on the road to 5G.

    “We spend more than 85 per cent of our time indoors, but a recent Ericsson ConsumerLab study conducted with more than 47,000 respondents across 23 countries, reveals that only 41 percent are highly satisfied with their indoor experience when browsing or accessing social networks. This drops to 36 per cent for more data-heavy apps: watching video, TV or movies online. Addressing this app coverage challenge, Ericsson is first to give smartphone users the benefit of concurrent access to both licensed and unlicensed spectrum, by delivering the first LAA small cells.

    “LAA is an LTE-Advanced technology that can improve mobile data speeds and reduce congestion, benefiting all wireless network users. Ericsson LAA, available in our small cell portfolio starting in fourth quarter of this year, enables carrier aggregation of licensed with unlicensed bands to effectively address growth in indoor data traffic,” the statement read in part,” the statement said.

    Commenting on the development, Chief Technical Officer, T-Mobile US, Inc., Neville Ray, said: “With our LTE footprint now covering 264 million Americans, we look to innovations like License Assisted Access to help us drive an even better, more differentiated wireless experience.

    “There’s approximately 550 MHz of underutilised spectrum in the 5 GHz Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (UNII) band and LAA are some of the technologies we plan to develop and use in our continuing efforts to provide our customers with superior network performance. We are excited to be working with major infrastructure partners, like Ericsson, to bring this technology to our customers in the near-future.”

    Vice President, Consumer & Infrastructure Services, Current Analysis, Peter Jarich, said: “In our discussions of future 5G networks, a number of themes are front and center: network function virtualisation, small cell architectures, use of higher frequency bands, and licensed-unlicensed band aggregation. The LAA that Ericsson is integrating into its small cell portfolio clearly foreshadows this 5G future. Ultimately, it’s all about optimising the network to support diverse consumer applications, diverse user locations (indoors and outdoors), and diverse device types – including future Internet of Things (IoT) demands.”

  • Ebola: Ericsson, IRC partner to deploy mobile tech

    Ebola: Ericsson, IRC partner to deploy mobile tech

    Ericsson and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has announced a multi-faceted partnership aimed at connecting and providing support for those impacted by health, natural disaster and conflict-driven humanitarian crises.

    The partnership initially will focus on the use of mobile phones and applications designed to support Ebola infection-prevention efforts at primary healthcare facilities in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Specifically, the technology will enable IRC teams to more accurately and efficiently capture and monitor data related to the facilities’ Ebola preparedness and response.

    The partnership also will provide technology and services that enable displaced families to reconnect with one another. Longer term, the organizations will collaborate on employee volunteer engagement, common projects, advocacy and knowledge-sharing.

    Speaking on the initiative, President and CEO of IRC, David Miliband said: “The combination of IRC’s operational expertise and Ericsson’s technology leadership has huge potential to help alleviate human suffering in some of the places hardest hit by conflict and disease. Ericsson’s global reach and proven track record in using technology for good will be a huge asset in future relief efforts.”

    Vice President Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility at Ericsson, Elaine Weidman-Grunewald, said: “The world of humanitarian response is challenged like never before. The spread of Ebola, the Syrian refugee crisis and less high-profile crisis in South Sudan all present different challenges to those working with humanitarian response.

  • Ericsson introduces multi-lingual live platform

    Ericsson introduces multi-lingual live platform

    Ericsson has unveiled its real-time platform that supports live captioning in various languages for broadcasters using speech-to-text, newsroom integration, and rapid offline content preparation.

    The live platform makes its IBC debut this year, and is a key part of Ericsson’s broadcast and media services portfolio following the acquisition of leading media services company Red Bee Media in July.

    The enterprise-level, schedule-driven software platform, which was developed in-house, uses the best possible speech recognition and stenography technologies to power Ericsson’s live captioning services. It allows multiple captioners to prepare and deliver real-time services for clients while maximising re-use of the caption data after it has been broadcast – for example, by helping to power content discovery and enrich archive search.

    The platform is being used to deliver live captioning services for major broadcast clients, including the BBC.

    On the platform, Head, Broadcast & Publication Operation, BBC Television, Simon Smith, said: “The drive for technical innovation and operational efficiency has underpinned Ericsson’s approach to the design and development of this platform from the outset. They have delivered a system that is uniquely tailored to meeting our demanding requirements. We are already seeing a step change in live subtitling accuracy as a result of using this platform, and we view its ongoing development as a vital tool in delivering ever-greater access to live programs for the BBC’s deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers.”

  • Job loss over telecoms’ towers sale baseless, says Airtel chief

    Job loss over telecoms’ towers sale baseless, says Airtel chief

    Disposal of telecoms towers by telcos will not compound the unemployment situation in the country, the Chief Executive Officer Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya has.

    He said rather, it would create more jobs.

    He spoke at the firm’s corporate headquarters in Ikoyi, Lagos.

    He said: “Yes, indeed, there are plans by operators to sell off, not necessarily outsource, the towers. It is the trend globally, and it is meant to allow operators concentrate on their core competences and allow those who are better equipped professionally to manage the towers to do so. The telcos had already outsourced their network operations to experts such as Ericsson and Huawei, whch, in turn, outsourced maintenance services such as fueling, cleaning and security to local companies known in industry parlance as ISMs.

    “It is evident that the eco-system of telecommunications business is growing a wide value-chain, which has Nigerians (locals) at the epicenter. So, more jobs would be created rather than lost, given that the new owners will definitely like to grow their businesses. Regarding the Call Centres, which were outsourced to BPOs (business process outsourcing), it is an inexactitude to say jobs were lost! On the contrary, the number of people employed in the Call Centre business has grown exponentially by over 300 per cent.”

    He averred that rather than create fears in the minds of indigenous engineers, who will be moving to the tower management firms, and disaffection in the hearts of Nigerians, who have been unapologetic beneficiaries of the global system for mobile (GSM) communication revolution started in 2001, the immense advantages inherent in this strategic business move by the telcos should be highlighted.

    According to Ogunsanya, there is a lot of cheering stories from the telecoms sector, which he said, has attracted over $20billin in foreign direct investment (FDI) over the last 12 and a half years, adding that it is the only industry that has continued to creatively take advantage of a combination of economic factors including technology, competition, outsourcing, and other economies of scale, to drive costs down hence price of telecommunications services and related products like phones and other devices.

    “The telecommunications industry has demonstrably employed more people directly and indirectly since 2001. The marketing communications industry, construction, security, petroleum marketing and several others have experienced a boom with the activities of the telcos. Indeed, telecommunications can be described as the goose that lays the golden egg in the Nigerian economy,” he said.

     

  • Ericsson’s semi-finalists out

    Ericsson has announced the semi-finalists for the annual Ericsson Application Awards.

    TeamKenya from Kenya, Team Trokxi and Team Nimdee Mobile from Ghana are among the semi-finalists. Winning teams will receive 25,000 euro in each category.

    TeamKenya and Trokxi are nominated in the student category and Nimdee mobile is nominated in the company category.

    TeamKenya developed an application that makes it easier for electorates to know and interact with political aspirants in their location, to learn more about the laws and topics surrounding electoral processes, get the latest electoral news and also to be informed of the latest electoral events.

    Team Trokxi developed an application that provides you with estimated fares to make informed decisions for public transportation. It helps you budget your trips, save money, time and minimize transport-related frauds.

    Team Nimdee developed an application that enables African merchants to access bigger markets on the continent and also the global market, while allowing merchants to reach their customers on the same platform.

    The three teams from Africa are competing for the first place spot with teams from China, United Kingdom, United States, Romania, Poland, Portugal and Brazil.