Ericsson: India’s understanding of mobility network will benefit 5G adoption in the country: Ericsson – Times of India

Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson has been a partner to India’s telecom industry for long and sees great potential when it comes to 5G adoption in the country. The company has already increased investments in India to deploy next-generation networks. Times of India-Gadgets Now sat with Fredrik Jejdling, executive vice president and head of business area networks at Ericsson, to understand why there is a huge interest in 5G in India.
During the ongoing Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Jejdling said that India’s understanding of the mobility network, along with the coordinated promotion of digital India agenda, will benefit 5G adoption in India.
“India understands that mobility is a facilitator, a platform for innovation, on top of which you can build infrastructure to meet the digitalisation needs. The country knows that it needs a critical network, it has a lot of competitive players and, of course, the big population, will help in 5G adoption in India,” said Jejdling, who headed Ericsson’s operation in India from 2011 to 2013.

The executive said that there has been a complete shift in how 5G is being deployed and adopted in India. He said that Ericsson has been a part of deploying 5G in a few markets but the technology that is being used to deploy 5G in India “is the absolute latest that you can find in this world.”
Ericsson’s India investments
Ericsson recently announced increased investments in India to manufacture 5G radio gear. It said that the expansion will help the company generate employment for around 2,000 people in Pune and is critical to meet the needs of 5G network deployments in India.
“India is actually one of the most important countries in the whole web of Ericsson countries across the world,” Jejdling added.
Recently, Ericsson claimed in its Mobility Report that 5G subscriptions will reach around 31 million by the end of 2022 and 690 million by the end of 2028. It also said that 5G will represent about 53% of mobile subscriptions at the end of 2028.
When asked whether the current economic conditions have dented Ericsson’s investments in India and how the company is balancing this in getting customers onboard, Jejdling said Ericsson has been pretty focused on increasing investments across the company in R&D over the past 5 years.

“We believe that the technology company needs to stay ahead of the technology curve. We need to provide equipment that is more performance-driven. Inflation pressure makes the macroeconomics situation a bit more difficult but there is a need for communication at all times,” Jejdling told TOI-Gadgets Now.
As per the Ericsson Mobility Report, the average data traffic per smartphone in the India region is the highest globally. It is projected to grow from 25GB per month in 2022 to around 54GB per month in 2028.
5G use cases in India
For Jejdling, enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) and fixed wireless access (FWA) will be the early use cases for 5G in India. “FWA is a very attractive use case due to relatively low penetration of fixed-line technology in India,” the executive noted.
The executive also complimented India on the rate of deployment and stability of the mobile networks. He recalled how he had “an uninterrupted” video call for 40-45 minutes on his way to India Mobile Congress from Gurgaon in October 2022.
“I can tell you that will not happen in many European cities at this stage. So I think that’s a testimony to how India has been dealing with mobility in a way that many other countries have not been dealing with,” Jejdling said.