Held in London on 12th February, the annual Ericsson pre-MWC meeting was well attended with more than 300 media and industry analysts. One of the main messages was about leveraging open and programmable AI-driven networks to create differentiated connectivity solutions and service infrastructure to enable new services and revenue opportunities.
Key highlights/announcements included:
๐๐ฅ๐จ๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ (๐๐๐) ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ง๐ โ network API was a major theme at the event with Ericsson positioning its Vonage GCP as a key platform for selling APIs to enterprises. Aduna, a joint-venture company set up by Ericsson and 13 major MNOs last year, is tasked with accelerating the development of a network API ecosystem. KDDI was confirmed as the 13th MNO at the event.
Key objectives of Aduna are to bring โmassive simplificationโ of network APIs to developers and ensure network APIs are consumable. Commercial partners will be announced at MWC.
๐๐ซ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ฉ๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ญ ๐20 โ a 5G router to provide differentiated FWA services together with network slicing capabilities was announced at the event. Ericsson believes that FWA's potential is underestimated and is rethinking how to monetise FWA via more differentiated services.
๐๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฌ โ Ericsson is developing a horizontal, โmulti-vendorโ Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) platform that will offer a mix of rApps developed by Ericsson, MNOs and third-party companies. Around 44 ecosystem partners have signed up. A developer portal has already been set up with plans for an rApps developer conference in June. Partners on-stage included Saratoga-based gen AI company ๐๐ข๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐ง๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐๐ฌ and mobile messaging company ๐๐ข๐ง๐๐ก.
๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ญ๐ ๐ง๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค๐ฌ โ an interesting session with car OEM ๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ซ ๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ซ, which has installed an Ericsson 5G-based private network solution at its car plant in the UK. JLR is on a mission to โcut-the-copperโ and create a more agile and innovative manufacturing environment. As well as providing much-enhanced connectivity compared to Ethernet, the network provides access to lots of sensor data previously inaccessible via other connectivity solutions. Using AI, this data is being leveraged to improve plant performance.
๐๐ฉ๐๐ง ๐๐๐ โ Ericsson announced that around 130 of its radio products are now open RAN โsupportingโ and estimates that around two-thirds of all radios shipped will be open RAN โsupportingโ by end 2025.
AT&T plans to install open RAN radios from Fujitsu and Mavenir on its Ericsson network before the end of the year. However, these are likely to be small cell and non-massive MIMO radios. The operator estimates that around 70% of its traffic will be via open interfaces by 2026.
New radio products โ there was a crop of seven new radios, together with antennas and a new portfolio called Ericsson RAN Connect, a new fronthaul unit designed to enable operators to aggregate more radio traffic to the fronthaul point. It also supports migration to Cloud RAN migration. Flagship models included:
AIR 3266 - a wideband massive MIMO radio with 400W output, weighing 17kg, which will be available in Q2/Q3 2026.
Air 4455 - an advanced FDD radio with new wideband PAs, dual band FDD with 4x100W output power weighing 19kg (weight reduction of 20%). Availability expected in Q4 2025.
AIR 3285 โ a dual band FDD massive MIMO radio weighing 30kg, the lightest in class. Also available Q4 2025.
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