Ericsson to boost post-Brexit job market by 800

The Swedish telecom kit maker said it would be able to create up to 800 new jobs in the UK within the next two years driven by accelerated 5G rollout.

Ericsson announced that it will directly hire around 250 new people in the UK in the next two years, which will represent a 10% increase on its current workforce in the country. In addition, 550 more positions will be created by its partners to fulfil field and resource tasks. The new demand is driven by the accelerated rollout of 5G across the country, including new 5G deployment as well as upgrading 20,000 existing sites, which presumably will include tasks related to the swap-out of Huawei’s equipment already installed by the operators.

It should not come as a surprise that Ericsson, one of the two biggest beneficiaries from the government’s decision to ban new Huawei 5G gear from next year and to mandate total removal by 2028, needs to expand its workforce to undertake the new job. The vendor is now a 5G supplier to all four UK mobile network operators, the latest being Three, which had planned to rely heavily on Huawei prior to the government decision to exclude the Chinese vendor.

The expansion almost by default does not stop the British government reading it as a vote of confidence in the country’s future. “The UK’s highly skilled workforce and dedication to world-class innovation continues to make it one of the most attractive business environments for tech investors,” said Lord Grimstone, the Minister for Investment. “As our economy recovers from the impact of Covid-19, inward investment in cutting-edge technologies across the UK will help us to build back better nationwide, levelling up the UK. Today’s announcement demonstrates Ericsson’s commitment to excellence in 5G and I look forward to seeing their continued success.”

Matt Warman, the Under-Secretary for Digital Infrastructure, concurred. “I welcome this investment in the UK by Ericsson which will create hundreds of skilled jobs across the country and accelerate the nationwide rollout of 5G,” Warman said. “We’re working hard to build a world-class 5G network, including introducing landmark legislation to boost telecoms security and a new strategy to diversify the supply chain. We will continue to support Ericsson and other providers however we can to deliver an infrastructure revolution for Britain.”

With the trade deal negotiations with the EU going down to the wire, the UK badly needs some good news for the post-withdrawal era. Ericsson’s announcement has just provided such a boost, though it is not the only piece of positive news in recent days. The Financial Times has found that jobs in the finance sector (banks, asset management, etc.) have not fled the UK since the Brexit vote four and a half years ago.