Where Is The 5G Monetization Card? Borje Ekholm Said Straightforwardly.

Borje Ekholm, President and CEO of Ericsson Group, recognizes that China is in the leading position in 5G standalone (SA) deployment and 6G is on the horizon. He stated that it is crucial for Western countries, including the United States, to accelerate network deployment.

 

He pointed out that so far many mobile operators have not been able to profit from 5G. One of the reasons is that they have not yet been able to fully utilize the 5G platform to support applications and services optimized for ultra-low latency, higher uplink priority and network slicing. To achieve these functions, it is necessary to deploy 5G SA. "It's hard to make money from something you don't have," Borje Ekholm said at the TPI Forum in Aspen, Colorado. "The network has to be built for 5G SA."

 

Borje Ekholm's statement today echoes what Magnus Ewerbring, the chief technology Officer of Ericsson Asia Pacific, said earlier. Ma Shuo also believes that 5G SA is the path for operators to monetize and differentiate their 5G networks.

 

In the United States, T-Mobile has been advancing 5G SA, and so has EchoStar, a struggling operator that is building a national 5G network. However, due to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the United States investigating EchoStar's federal 5G obligations and spectrum licensing rights, the construction of EchoStar has currently been suspended.

 

The FCC's investigation has cast a shadow over the goal of deploying 5G SA networks across the United States. An unnamed US policy expert said on the sidelines of the TPI meeting: "The construction of EchoStar is clearly in the public interest, and the FCC should do everything in its power to offer assistance." But on the contrary, it seems that Chairman Carr is setting obstacles.

 

China has prioritized 5G SA

 

Borje Ekholm pointed out that China has prioritized 5G SA and has deployed over 4 million base stations, which is estimated to be about ten times the scale of deployment in the United States. China has monetized 5G SA by providing advanced robots and automation support to tens of thousands of factories.

 

"China is highly competitive, has a huge domestic market and focuses on 5G SA," said the head of Ericsson.

 

Signs of the accelerated implementation of 5G SA have also emerged in other regions around the world. The latest operator survey of Heavy Reading (now affiliated with Omdia) shows that 35% of the respondents said SA has been launched, and 20% expect it to be launched before the end of the year. 41% listed "launching new services or better services" as the primary motivation for investing in the core of 5G.

 

Despite this, Borje Ekholm still believes that the West must "take seriously" China's investment in 5G SA and increase investment in wireless infrastructure. This is not merely because it can bring more revenue to Ericsson, but rather out of the necessity of competition.

 

When it comes to competition, Borje Ekholm was also asked to evaluate the top rival, Huawei. He did not respond directly, only stating that Ericsson can only focus on its own measures to maintain competitiveness and differentiation in key markets, including the open RAN that Ericsson has publicly advocated.

 

However, open RAN has so far not brought about significant competition among suppliers and has not been widely valued by operators.

 

"Open RAN is our way to drive innovation in the Western ecosystem," he said.

 

Borje Ekholm also echoed that the United States and other Western countries should pay attention to the fact that China will host the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World Radio Congress (WRC-27) in 2027. He emphasized that it is "crucial" to ensure that the Western world has a strong representation at WRC-27.

 

The reason is that licensed spectrum is equally crucial for the next generation of automation, autonomous vehicles, and AI applications that require "truly reliable" low-latency networks.

 

 

The Impact of AI

 

He also talked about the impact of AI on Ericsson and networks.

 

"AI is the most fundamental technology we have ever seen." " Whether AI is overhyped or not, industry observers often overestimate the impact of new technologies within a year but underestimate it within a decade.

 

He said that Ericsson has increased spectral efficiency by 10% through AI tools. Although AI will undoubtedly replace some jobs, he is also optimistic that it will create new job opportunities.

 

He also predicted that generative AI would drive the emergence of more traffic and new capabilities. The importance of the connection layer will become even more crucial.

 

Europe must increase its investment

 

Borje Ekholm, who has a residence in the mountains of Colorado, was also asked about the current state of the US-EU partnership. He criticized Europe's ability to fulfill its cooperation obligations and called on the region to increase investment and research and development efforts.

 

Europe has performed poorly for many years and is falling behind in this partnership... I don't think it's reasonable to make the United States bear all the burdens. The soil for change has already emerged.