Ericsson sets sights on skint subscribers

With low-APRU, high population mobile markets like India going through massive disruption, Ericsson has launched a suite of innovations aimed improving developing world connectivity.

For once this suite doesn’t have a collective name, perhaps because Ericsson seems to want to position this as more of an initiative than a product launch. There is lots of worthy talk about UN Sustainable Development Goals and bridging the digital divide, but at its core this announcement is about trying to lower the cost of infrastructure in countries where it’s hard to get ROI.

The suite features tools that help operators to target their investments more precisely and claims to potentially lower the TCO of mobile broadband builds by up to 40%. Specific offerings include tweaks to the core Ericsson Radio System and help with upgrading GSM sites to 3G and 4G.

“These are among the most important additions to our product portfolio for mobile broadband coverage growth ever,” said Arun Bansal, Head of Business Unit Network Products at Ericsson. “Ericsson supports the ITU’s Connect 2020 target of ensuring that more than 50 percent of people in the developing world are using the internet by 2020.

“In order to reach this goal, together we will need to connect roughly 500,000 new users to the internet each day. Ericsson continues innovating so that operators can create viable business even in rural or off-grid settings, and to make the most difference with every investment.”

“These innovations address investment pain points while also considering the current situation and environment of many of these builds,” pitched-in Daryl Schoolar, analyst at Ovum. “Ericsson is unique in their multifaceted approach and focus on spurring mobile broadband adoption in these developing markets.”

Ericsson does seem to be putting a fair bit of effort into this initiative and it’s good to see some substance added to all the talk of the next billion, etc. Developing markets are where all the growth will be for a while so the telecoms industry needs to get involved.