Weird, and frustrating; Swedish vendor Ericsson has issued a press release, the day after Nordic rival Nokia, about a new working relationship with T-Mobile in the US on private 5G. It is the same press release, just with a different vendor attached, just as it was when Nokia followed Ericsson in late 2020 (18 months ago, already) to tie-up with AT&T on private cellular for US enterprises. So, predictable, as well; we would have preferred a single statement from the carrier.
The new arrangement will see, exactly the same, “enterprise and government customers” in the US offered a pathway to Ericsson-made private cellular RAN and core solutions with T-Mobile. Ericsson’s kit will be incorporated into T-Mobile’s 5G Advanced Network Solutions, now also acronymized as 5G ANS, just like Nokia’s.
A statement said: “The suite is aimed at increasing revenues, lowering costs,and delivering new customer experiences through tailored 5G.” The pair cited a handful or prime use cases (two; one?) for these customers: namely, “augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR) experiences for training or field service”.
Mishka Dehghan, senior vice president of strategy, product, and solutions engineering at T-Mobile Business, said: “With T-Mobile’s leading 5G network, America’s largest and fastest, and excellent RAN and Core equipment from partners like Ericsson, we’re showing — not telling — that 5G MEC is real and helping customers to improve their business today.”
Åsa Tamsons, senior vice president and head of business area technologies and new businesses at Ericsson, said: “The T-Mobile and Ericsson partnership is making it possible to deliver clear results for enterprises that want to take their business wireless.”
Last week, Ericsson announced a corporate rejig with a new division for ‘enterprise wireless solutions’, officially merging its private (‘dedicated’) local-area network (LAN) division and its Cradlepoint business. US-based Cradlepoint, acquired for $1.1 billion in late 2020, has traditionally focused on LTE and 5G wide-area networking (WAN) for the emergency services sector.
