L.M. Ericsson outlined its vision for third-generation evolution, saying that the growing demand for mobile content and the handset’s role as a media channel will pave the way for faster deployment of 3G and High-Speed Downlink Packet Access technology. As part of that vision, the company plans to invest $1 billion in China during the next five years.
The company said the mobile communications industry has 1 billion users and a 30-percent world penetration rate. In addition, the company said HSDPA will enable mobile operators to take advantage of the revenue streams of the increasing number of bandwidth-intense applications, such as music, gaming and mobile TV.
“Users demand more mobile content, operators are looking for new revenue sources and media companies need new distribution channels,” said Carl-Henric Svanberg, president and chief executive of Ericsson. “This is in line with our vision of an all-communicating world, and we are confident that the mobile content industry has wonderful potential.”
Svanberg went on to announce that Ericsson has signed an agreement with the Shanghai Research Center for Wireless Communication, whereby the two will collaborate on future technologies, such as “Super 3G” and fourth generation.
Ericsson also announced several new contract wins.
In Israel, Ericsson won a deal with mobile operator Cellcom to provide its 3G/HSDPA radio network. Ericsson said rollouts are set to begin in 2005.
In Canada, Ericsson won a contract with Rogers Wireless to provide its Automatic Device Configuration solution, a product announced last week that enables faster and simpler activation and configuration of handsets.
Ericsson said its new product stores information about users’ handsets and allows carriers to tune their services for specific phone models. Ericsson said ADC includes support for remote software updates as well as other applications from the Open Mobile Alliance’s device management standards.
“The introduction of ADC into the Rogers Wireless network enables us to provide our customers with seamless access to their wireless service, even when they change their wireless device,” said Jim Smith, vice president of engineering at Rogers Wireless.
Ericsson said its ADC solution simplifies the device management process for both operators and consumers because it automatically can detect the make and model of a wireless device on a network so the right configuration information is sent to a particular phone for new services or updates.
In Portugal, Ericsson signed a five-year managed services contract with Sonaecom, including field operations for the multi-vendor infrastructure networks of Optimus and Novis, the mobile and fixed brands of Sonaecom.
“Ericsson’s local services organization will support us and, in combination with its global experience in managed services, ensure up-to-date processes that maintain quality of services to our customers,” said Luis Reis, chief operating officer of Sonaecom.
Ericsson said it now has 50 managed services contracts that serve more than 43 million subscribers worldwide.
And in Australia, the company announced a new contract with Australian operator Commander Communications Ltd. to supply its Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem solution to enable its core network to access DSLAM connectivity. Ericsson said Commander will offer IMS-based services to its customers by the end of 2005.
Terms of the new contracts were not disclosed.
