Ericsson cheers Latin America wins as transformation continues

The Brazil deal is actually with US broadcaster NBC, but specifically for its coverage of the Rio Olympics in August. Ericsson will help with video processing and distribution, as well as on-site support.

“We once again are entrusting all of our MPEG compression to the very flexible and reliable Ericsson product line,” said David Mazza, SVP, Engineering for NBC Olympics. “When we need to balance the trade-off between bandwidth vs. high picture quality, we know Ericsson is always going to give us the best picture for the available bits.”

Over in Mexico City Telefónica has announced it will be deploying over 1,000 Ericsson Radio Dot small cells in a bunch of commercial buildings to boost cellular coverage.

“Mexico City is the perfect place for Telefónica’s largest deployment of Ericsson Radio Dot System,” said Eduardo Ricotta, VP of Ericsson Latin America. “The city is full of high-rise buildings and millions of people wanting excellent mobile broadband services, which Telefónica can now provide in a cost-efficient way.”

“The agreement is focused on reinforcing services with higher value proposition,” said Omar Calvo, Engineering Director at Telefónica Mexico. “We have been looking to cover all shopping malls, starting with Plaza Cosmopol in Estado de Mexico and Plaza Galerías in Pachuca, Hidalgo during this first delivery. In the short term, we foresee the implementation in 50 facilities within Mexico City.”

Earlier this week Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg focused on the parallel transformation path both his company and the wider industry are on, at the company’s AGM. “Just like our industry and our customers, Ericsson is on a transformation journey,” he said. “Our Networked Society strategy requires us to excel in our core business and establish a leadership position in targeted areas. By executing on this strategy, we will continue to lead our industry and create new opportunities for growth.”

This is a reinforcement of the corporate strategy Ericsson has been pursuing for some time. Ericsson knows it needs to diversify away from core network business but this is easier said than done. Having said that sales in targeted areas such as Cloud, IP networks, TV & Media, OSS/BSS, and Industry & Society (IoT) grow 20% year-on-year and accounted for 18% of total revenue.