(lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in
information and communications technology
Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and computers, ...
for telecommunications service providers and enterprises, including, among others,
3G,
4G, and
5G equipment, and
Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol (IP) is the network layer communications protocol in the Internet protocol suite for relaying datagrams across network boundaries. Its routing function enables internetworking, and essentially establishes the Internet.
IP h ...
(IP) and optical transport systems. The company employs around 100,000 people and operates in more than 180 countries.
Ericsson has over 57,000 granted patents.
Ericsson has been a major contributor to the development of the
telecommunications industry The telecommunications industries within the sector of information and communication technology is made up of all telecommunications/telephone companies and internet service providers and plays a crucial role in the evolution of mobile communication ...
and is one of the leaders in 5G.
The company was founded in 1876 by
Lars Magnus Ericsson
Lars Magnus Ericsson (; 5 May 1846 – 17 December 1926) was a Swedish inventor, entrepreneur and founder of telephone equipment manufacturer Ericsson ( incorporated as ''Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson'').
Lars Magnus was born in Värmskog, ...
and is jointly controlled by the
Wallenberg family
The Wallenberg family is a prominent Swedish family, Europe's most powerful business dynasty. Wallenbergs are noted as bankers, industrialists, politicians, bureaucrats, diplomats and military. The Wallenberg sphere's holdings employ about 600 ...
through its holding company
Investor AB
Investor AB is a Swedish investment and ''de facto'' conglomerate holding company. It was founded in 1916 and is still controlled by the Wallenberg family through their Foundation Asset Management company FAM. The company owns a controlling st ...
, and the universal bank
Handelsbanken
Svenska Handelsbanken AB is a Swedish bank providing banking services including traditional corporate transactions, investment banking and trading as well as consumer banking including insurance. Handelsbanken is one of the major banks in Sweden ...
through its investment company Industrivärden. The Wallenbergs and the Handelsbanken sphere acquired their voting-strong A-shares, and thus the control of Ericsson, after the fall of the
Kreuger empire in the early 1930s.
Ericsson is the inventor of
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...
technology.
History
Foundation
Lars Magnus Ericsson
Lars Magnus Ericsson (; 5 May 1846 – 17 December 1926) was a Swedish inventor, entrepreneur and founder of telephone equipment manufacturer Ericsson ( incorporated as ''Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson'').
Lars Magnus was born in Värmskog, ...
began his association with telephones in his youth as an instrument maker. He worked for a firm that made
telegraph
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...
equipment for the Swedish government agency
Telegrafverket. In 1876, at the age of 30, he started a telegraph repair shop with help from his friend
Carl Johan Andersson
Karl John (Karl Johan) Andersson (4 March 1827 in Norra Råda Värmland, Sweden – 9 July 1867 in Angola) was a Swedish explorer, hunter and trader as well as an amateur naturalist and ornithologist.
He is most famous for the many books he pub ...
in central
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
and repaired foreign-made telephones. In 1878 Ericsson began making and selling his telephone equipment. His telephones were not technically innovative. In 1878 he agreed to supply telephones and switchboards to Sweden's first telecommunications operating company, Stockholms Allmänna Telefonaktiebolag.
International expansion
![Thinktank Birmingham - object 1961S01536](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Thinktank_Birmingham_-_object_1961S01536.00001%281%29.jpg)
As production grew in the late 1890s, and the Swedish market seemed to be reaching saturation, Ericsson expanded into foreign markets through a number of agents. The UK (
Ericsson Telephones Ltd.) and Russia were early markets, where factories were later established to improve the chances of gaining local contracts and augment the output of the Swedish factory. In the UK, the
National Telephone Company
The National Telephone Company (NTC) was a British telephone company from 1881 until 1911 which brought together smaller local companies in the early years of the telephone. Under the Telephone Transfer Act 1911 it was taken over by the General P ...
was a major customer; by 1897 sold 28% of its output in the UK. The Nordic countries were also Ericsson customers; they were encouraged by the growth of telephone services in Sweden.
Other countries and colonies were exposed to Ericsson products through the influence of their parent countries. These included Australia and New Zealand, which by the late 1890s were Ericsson's largest non-European markets.
Mass production
Mass production, also known as flow production or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. Together with job production and batch ...
techniques were now firmly established; telephones were losing some of their ornate finish and decoration.
Despite their successes elsewhere, Ericsson did not make significant sales in the United States. The Bell Group,
Kellogg and
Automatic Electric
Automatic Electric Company (A.E. Co.) was an American telephone equipment supplier primarily for independent telephone companies in North America, but also had a worldwide presence. With its line of automatic telephone exchanges, it was also a lo ...
dominated the market. Ericsson eventually sold its U.S. assets. Sales in Mexico led to inroads into South American countries. South Africa and China were also generating significant sales. With his company now multinational, Lars Ericsson stepped down from the company in 1901.
Automatic equipment
![Ericsson telefonplan 20050902 001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Ericsson_telefonplan_20050902_001.jpg)
Ericsson ignored the growth of
automatic telephony in the United States and concentrated on manual exchange designs. Their first dial telephone was produced in 1921, although sales of the early automatic switching systems were slow until the equipment had proven itself on the world's markets. Telephones of this period had a simpler design and finish, and many of the early automatic desk telephones in Ericsson's catalogues were magneto styles with a dial on the front and appropriate changes to the electronics. Elaborate decals decorated the cases.
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the subsequent
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
and the loss of its Russian assets after the
Revolution
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
slowed the company's development while sales to other countries fell by about half.
Shareholding changes
The acquisition of other telecommunications companies put pressure on Ericsson's finances; in 1925, Karl Fredric Wincrantz took control of the company by acquiring most of the shares. Wincrantz was partly funded by
Ivar Kreuger
Ivar Kreuger (; 2 March 1880 – 12 March 1932) was a Swedish civil engineer, financier, entrepreneur and industrialist. In 1908, he co-founded the construction company Kreuger & Toll Byggnads AB, which specialized in new building techniques. B ...
, an international financier. The company was renamed ''Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson''. Kreuger started showing interest in the company, being a major owner of Wincrantz holding companies.
Wallenberg era begins
Ericsson was saved from bankruptcy and closure with the help of banks including
Stockholms Enskilda Bank
Stockholms Enskilda Bank, sometimes called Enskilda banken or SEB, was a Swedish bank, founded in 1856 by André Oscar Wallenberg as Stockholm's first private bank. In 1857, Stockholms Enskilda Bank began to employ women, claiming to be the fir ...
(now
Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken
Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (, abbreviated SEB, is a northern European financial services group headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. In Sweden and the Baltic countries, SEB has a full financial service offering. In Denmark, Finland, Norway, ...
) and other Swedish investment banks controlled by the
Wallenberg family
The Wallenberg family is a prominent Swedish family, Europe's most powerful business dynasty. Wallenbergs are noted as bankers, industrialists, politicians, bureaucrats, diplomats and military. The Wallenberg sphere's holdings employ about 600 ...
, and some Swedish government backing.
Marcus Wallenberg Jr. negotiated a deal with several Swedish banks to rebuild Ericsson financially. The banks gradually increased their possession of LM Ericsson "A" shares, while ITT was still the largest shareholder. In 1960, the Wallenberg family bought ITT's shares in Ericsson, and has since controlled the company.
Market development
![Ericsson 1950s bakelite telephone](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Ericsson_1950s_bakelite_telephone.jpg)
In the 1920s and 1930s, the world telephone markets were being organized and stabilized by many governments. The fragmented town-by-town systems serviced by small, private companies that had evolved were integrated and offered for lease to a single company. Ericsson obtained some leases, which represented further sales of equipment to the growing networks. Ericsson got almost one-third of its sales under the control of its telephone operating companies.
Further development
Ericsson introduced the world's first fully automatic mobile telephone system,
MTA, in 1956. It released one of the world's first hands-free speaker telephones in the 1960s. In 1954, it released the
Ericofon
The Ericofon is a one-piece plastic telephone created by the Ericsson Company of Sweden and marketed through the second half of the 20th century. It was the first commercially marketed telephone to incorporate the dial and handset into a singl ...
. Ericsson
crossbar switching equipment was used in telephone administrations in many countries.
In 1983 the company introduced the
ERIPAX ERIPAX (ERICSSON Packet Switching Exchange) was a suite of packet switched network products and services that was introduced in 1983 by Ericcson. It worked primarily over the X.25 standard, but X.28 and X.75 protocols were also used. It also su ...
suite of network products and services.
Emergence of the Internet (1995–2003)
In the 1990s, during the emergence of the Internet, Ericsson was regarded as slow to realize its potential and falling behind in the area of IP technology. But the company had established an Internet project in 1995 called Infocom Systems to exploit opportunities leading from fixed-line telecom and IT. CEO Lars Ramqvist wrote in the 1996 annual report that in all three of its business areas – Mobile Telephones and Terminals, Mobile Systems, and Infocom Systems – "we will expand our operations as they relate to customer service and Internet Protocol (IP) access (Internet and intranet access)".
![Ericsson mobil](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Ericsson_mobil.jpg)
The growth of
GSM
The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such as ...
, which became a ''de facto'' world standard, combined with Ericsson's other mobile standards, such as
D-AMPS
IS-54 and IS-136 are second-generation ( 2G) mobile phone systems, known as Digital AMPS (D-AMPS), and a further development of the North American 1G mobile system Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS). It was once prevalent throughout the America ...
and
PDC, meant that by the start of 1997, Ericsson had an estimated 40% share of the world's mobile market, with around 54 million subscribers. There were also around 188 million
AXE
An axe ( sometimes ax in American English; see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood, to harvest timber, as a weapon, and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has ma ...
lines in place or on order in 117 countries.
Telecom and chip companies worked in the 1990s to provide Internet access over mobile telephones. Early versions such as
Wireless Application Protocol
Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a technical standard for accessing information over a mobile wireless network. A WAP browser is a web browser for mobile devices such as mobile phones that use the protocol. Introduced in 1999, WAP achieve ...
(WAP) used packet data over the existing GSM network, in a form known as
GPRS
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a packet oriented mobile data standard on the 2G and 3G cellular communication network's global system for mobile communications (GSM). GPRS was established by European Telecommunications Standards Insti ...
(General Packet Radio Service), but these services, known as 2.5G, were fairly rudimentary and did not achieve much mass-market success.
The
International Telecommunication Union
The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Unio ...
(ITU) had prepared the specifications for a
3G mobile service that included several technologies. Ericsson pushed hard for the
WCDMA
The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the Inte ...
(wideband
CDMA
Code-division multiple access (CDMA) is a channel access method used by various radio communication technologies. CDMA is an example of multiple access, where several transmitters can send information simultaneously over a single communication ...
) form based on the GSM standard and began testing it in 1996. Japanese operator
NTT Docomo signed deals to partner with Ericsson and
Nokia
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...
, who came together in 1997 to support WCDMA over rival standards. DoCoMo was the first operator with a live 3G network, using its own version of WCDMA called
FOMA
Freedom of Mobile Multimedia Access (FOMA) is the brand name of the W-CDMA-based 3G telecommunications services being offered by the Japanese telecommunications service provider NTT DoCoMo. It is an implementation of the Universal Mobile Tel ...
. Ericsson was a significant developer of the WCDMA version of GSM, while US-based chip developer
Qualcomm
Qualcomm () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software, and services related to wireless technology. It owns patents critical to the 5G, 4 ...
promoted the alternative system
CDMA2000
CDMA2000 (also known as C2K or IMT Multi‑Carrier (IMT‑MC)) is a family of 3G mobile technology standards for sending voice, data, and signaling data between mobile phones and cell sites. It is developed by 3GPP2 as a backwards-compatible ...
, building on the popularity of CDMA in the US market. This resulted in a patent infringement lawsuit that was resolved in March 1999 when the two companies agreed to pay each other royalties for the use of their respective technologies and Ericsson purchased Qualcomm's wireless infrastructure business and some R&D resources.
Ericsson issued a profit warning in March 2001. Over the coming year, sales to operators halved. Mobile telephones became a burden; the company's telephones unit made a loss of SEK 24 billion in 2000. A fire in a Philips chip factory in New Mexico in March 2000 caused severe disruption to Ericsson's phone production, dealing a ''coup de grâce'' to Ericsson's mobile phone hopes. Mobile phones would be spun off into a joint venture with Sony, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, in October 2001.
Ericsson launched several rounds of restructuring, refinancing and job-cutting; during 2001, staff numbers fell from 107,000 to 85,000. A further 20,000 went the next year, and 11,000 more in 2003. A new rights issue raised SEK 30 billion to keep the company afloat. The company had survived as mobile Internet started growing. With record profits, it was in better shape than many of its competitors.
Rebuilding and growing (2003–2018)
The emergence of full mobile Internet began a period of growth for the global telecom industry, including Ericsson. After the launch of 3G services in 2003, people started to access the Internet using their telephones.
Ericsson was working on ways to improve
WCDMA
The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the Inte ...
as operators were buying and rolling it out; it was the first generation of 3G access. New advances included IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) and the next evolution of WCDMA, called
High-Speed Packet Access
High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is an amalgamation of two mobile protocols—High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA)—that extends and improves the performance of existing 3G mobile telecommunicat ...
(HSPA). It was initially deployed in the download version called
HSDPA
High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is an amalgamation of two mobile protocols—High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA)—that extends and improves the performance of existing 3G mobile telecommunicat ...
; the technology spread from the first test calls in the US in late 2005 to 59 commercial networks in September 2006. HSPA would provide the world's first mobile broadband.
In July 2016,
Hans Vestberg
Hans Vestberg (born 23 June 1965) is a Swedish businessman and CEO of Verizon Communications, where he has worked as executive vice president of the company's network and technology team, and as chief technology officer. Vestberg was previously th ...
stepped down as Ericsson's CEO after heading the company for six years. Jan Frykhammar, who has been working for the company since 1991 will be stepping in as interim CEO as Ericsson searches for a full-time replacement. On 16 January 2017, following Ericsson's announcement on 26 October 2016, new CEO
Börje Ekholm
Börje Ekholm (born 1963) is a Swedish business executive who is the chief executive officer of Ericsson, and has been since January 16, 2017. Prior to his appointment, he was chief executive officer of Patricia Industries, and from 2005 to 2015 h ...
started and interim CEO Jan Frykhammar stepped down the following day.
In June 2018, Ericsson, Inc. and Ericsson AB have agreed to pay $145,893 to settle potential civil liability for an apparent violation of the
International Emergency Economic Powers Act
The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), Title II of , is a United States federal law authorizing the president to regulate international commerce after declaring a national emergency in response to any unusual and extraordinary t ...
(IEEPA) and the Sudanese Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. part 538 (SSR).1
Acquisitions and cooperation
Around 2000, companies and governments began to push for standards for mobile Internet. In May 2000, the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
created the
Wireless Strategic Initiative, a consortium of four telecommunications suppliers in Europe – Ericsson,
Nokia
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...
,
Alcatel Alcatel may refer to:
* Alcatel, a former French telecommunications equipment company, which became Alcatel-Lucent and is now part of Nokia
* Alcatel Mobile, a brand of mobile phones, tablets and wearables, formerly a joint venture between Alcatel ...
(France) and
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
(Germany) – to develop and test new prototypes for advanced wireless communications systems. Later that year, the consortium partners invited other companies to join them in a Wireless World Research Forum in 2001.
In December 1999,
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
and Ericsson announced a
strategic partnership A strategic partnership (also see strategic alliance) is a relationship between two commercial enterprises, usually formalized by one or more business contracts. A strategic partnership will usually fall short of a legal partnership entity, agency, ...
to combine the former's web browser and server software with the latter's mobile-internet technologies. In 2000, the Dot-com bubble burst with marked
economic implications for Sweden. Ericsson, the world's largest producer of mobile telecommunications equipment, shed thousands of jobs, as did the country's Internet consulting firms and
dot-com start-ups. In the same year,
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...
, the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer, signed a $1.5 billion deal to supply
flash memory
Flash memory is an electronic non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for the NOR and NAND logic gates. Both us ...
to Ericsson over the next three years.
The short-lived joint venture called Ericsson Microsoft Mobile Venture, owned 70/30 percent by Ericsson and Microsoft, respectively, ended in October 2001 when Ericsson announced it would absorb the former joint venture and adopt a licensing agreement with Microsoft instead. The same month, Ericsson announced the launch of
Sony Ericsson
Sony Mobile Communications Inc. ( ja, ソニーモバイルコミュニケーションズ株式会社) was a multinational telecommunications company founded on October 1, 2001, as a joint venture between Sony Group Corporation and Ericsson. I ...
, a joint venture mobile telephone business, together with
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
. Sony Ericsson remained in operation until February 2012, when Sony bought out Ericsson's share; Ericsson said it wanted to focus on the global wireless market as a whole.
Lower stock prices and job losses affected many telecommunications companies in 2001. The major equipment manufacturers –
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...
(U.S.),
Lucent Technologies
Lucent Technologies, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications equipment company headquartered in Murray Hill, New Jersey. It was established on September 30, 1996, through the divestiture of the former AT&T Technologies business u ...
(U.S.),
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develo ...
(U.S.),
Marconi (UK),
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
(Germany), Nokia (Finland), as well as Ericsson – all announced job cuts in their home countries and subsidiaries around the world. Ericsson's workforce worldwide fell during 2001 from 107,000 to 85,000.
In September 2001, Ericsson purchased the remaining shares in
EHPT Ericsson Hewlett Packard Telecom (EHPT) was a Swedish consortium made up of 60% Ericsson interests and 40% Hewlett-Packard interests. The company was founded in 1993 as a joint venture owned by Ericsson and Hewlett-Packard. It was an independent, w ...
from
Hewlett Packard
The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...
. Founded in 1993, Ericsson Hewlett Packard Telecom (EHPT) was a joint venture made up of 60% Ericsson interests and 40% Hewlett-Packard interests.
In 2002, ICT investor losses topped $2 trillion and share prices fell by 95% until August that year. More than half a million people lost their jobs in the global telecom industry over the two years. The collapse of U.S. carrier
WorldCom
MCI, Inc. (subsequently Worldcom and MCI WorldCom) was a telecommunications company. For a time, it was the second largest long-distance telephone company in the United States, after AT&T. Worldcom grew largely by acquiring other telecommunic ...
, with more than $107 billion in assets, was the biggest in U.S. history. The sector's problems caused bankruptcies and job losses, and led to changes in the leadership of several major companies. Ericsson made 20,000 more staff redundant and raised about $3 billion from its shareholders. In June 2002,
Infineon Technologies
Infineon Technologies AG is a German semiconductor manufacturer founded in 1999, when the semiconductor operations of the former parent company Siemens AG were spun off. Infineon has about 50,280 employees and is one of the ten largest semicond ...
(then the sixth-largest semiconductor supplier and a subsidiary of
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
) bought Ericsson's
microelectronics
Microelectronics is a subfield of electronics. As the name suggests, microelectronics relates to the study and manufacture (or microfabrication) of very small electronic designs and components. Usually, but not always, this means micrometre-sc ...
unit for $400 million.
Ericsson was an official backer in the 2005 launch of the
.mobi
The domain name mobi is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) in the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet. Its name is derived from the adjective ''mobile''.
The domain was approved by ICANN on 11 July 2005, and is managed by the mTLD global r ...
top-level domain created specifically for the
mobile internet
The mobile web refers to mobile browser-based World Wide Web services accessed from handheld mobile devices, such as smartphones or feature phones, through a mobile or other wireless network.
History and development
Traditionally, the World ...
.
Co-operation with Hewlett-Packard did not end with
EHPT Ericsson Hewlett Packard Telecom (EHPT) was a Swedish consortium made up of 60% Ericsson interests and 40% Hewlett-Packard interests. The company was founded in 1993 as a joint venture owned by Ericsson and Hewlett-Packard. It was an independent, w ...
; in 2003 Ericsson outsourced its IT to HP, which included Managed Services, Help Desk Support, Data Center Operations, and HP Utility Data Center. The contract was extended in 2008. In October 2005, Ericsson acquired the bulk of the troubled UK telecommunications manufacturer
Marconi Company
The Marconi Company was a British telecommunications and engineering company that did business under that name from 1963 to 1987. Its roots were in the Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company founded by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi in 1897 ...
, including its brand name that dates back to the creation of the original
Marconi Company
The Marconi Company was a British telecommunications and engineering company that did business under that name from 1963 to 1987. Its roots were in the Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company founded by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi in 1897 ...
by the "father of radio"
Guglielmo Marconi
Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquis of Marconi (; 25 April 187420 July 1937) was an Italians, Italian inventor and electrical engineering, electrical engineer, known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based Wireless telegrap ...
. In September 2006, Ericsson sold the greater part of its
defense
Defense or defence may refer to:
Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups
* Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare
* Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks
* Defense industr ...
business
Ericsson Microwave Systems
(lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informat ...
, which mainly produced sensor and radar systems, to
Saab AB
Saab AB (originally , later just SAAB and Saab Group) is a Swedish aerospace and defence company, founded in 1937. Headquartered in Stockholm, the development and the manufacturing is undertaken in Linköping. Saab produced automobiles from 194 ...
, which renamed the company to
Saab Microwave Systems
Saab Microwave systems is a Swedish company which was founded in 1956 as Ericsson Microwave Systems. The business was acquired by Saab and renamed in 2006. The main market for the company is in the sensor and electronic warfare field.
Its most im ...
.
In 2007, Ericsson acquired carrier edge-router maker
Redback Networks
Redback Networks provided hardware and software used by Internet service providers to manage broadband services. The company's products included the SMS (Subscriber Management System), SmartEdge, and SmartMetro product lines.
In January 2007, the ...
, and then Entrisphere, a US-based company providing fiber-access technology. In September 2007, Ericsson acquired an 84% interest in German customer-care and billing software firm
LHS, a stake later raised to 100%. In 2008, Ericsson sold its enterprise PBX division to
Aastra Technologies
Aastra Technologies Limited, formerly headquartered in Concord, Ontario, Canada, made products and systems for accessing communication networks, including the Internet. Its products included residential and business telephone terminals, screen ...
, and acquired
Tandberg Television
Ericsson Television, formerly Tandberg Television, is a company providing MPEG-4 AVC, MPEG-2 and HEVC encoding decoding and control solutions, plus stream processing, packaging, network adaption and related products, for Contribution & Distribu ...
, the television technology division of Norwegian company
Tandberg.
In 2009, Ericsson bought the
CDMA2000
CDMA2000 (also known as C2K or IMT Multi‑Carrier (IMT‑MC)) is a family of 3G mobile technology standards for sending voice, data, and signaling data between mobile phones and cell sites. It is developed by 3GPP2 as a backwards-compatible ...
and
LTE business of
Nortel
Nortel Networks Corporation (Nortel), formerly Northern Telecom Limited, was a Canadian multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in Montreal, Quebec, ...
's carrier networks division for US$1.18 billion; Bizitek, a Turkish business support systems integrator; the Estonian manufacturing operations of electronic manufacturing company
Elcoteq
Elcoteq SE was a Finnish consumer electronics contract manufacturer, EMS,[About Us]
Elcoteq Official Site ; and completed its acquisition of LHS. Acquisitions in 2010 included assets from the Strategy and Technology Group of inCode, a North American business and consulting-services company; Nortel's majority shareholding (50% plus one share) in LG-Nortel, a joint venture between
LG Electronics
LG Electronics Inc. () is a South Korean multinational electronics company headquartered in Yeouido-dong, Seoul, South Korea. LG Electronics is a part of LG Corporation, the fourth largest '' chaebol'' in South Korea, and often considered a ...
and Nortel Networks providing sales, R&D and industrial capacity in South Korea, now known as
Ericsson
(lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informat ...
-LG; further Nortel carrier-division assets, relating from Nortel's GSM business in the United States and Canada; Optimi Corporation, a U.S.–Spanish telecommunications vendor specializing in network optimization and management; and Pride, a consulting and systems-integration company operating in Italy.
In 2011, Ericsson acquired manufacturing and research facilities, and staff from the
Guangdong Nortel Telecommunication Equipment Company (GDNT) as well as Nortel's Multiservice Switch business. Ericsson acquired U.S. company
Telcordia Technologies
iconectiv is a supplier of network planning and network management services to telecommunications providers. Known as Bellcore after its establishment in the United States in 1983 as part of the break-up of the Bell System, the company's name ...
in January 2012, an operations and business support systems (OSS/BSS) company. In March, Ericsson announced it was buying the broadcast-services division of
Technicolor
Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades.
Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...
, a media broadcast technology company. In April 2012 Ericsson completed the acquisition of BelAir Networks a strong Wi-Fi network technology company.
On 3 May 2013, Ericsson announced it would divest its power cable operations to Danish company
NKT Holding
NKT A/S (formerly NKT Holding A/S) is an industrial holding company with interests in power cables and wires as well as optical components, lasers and crystal fibres.
The company is listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen Copenhagen Stock Exchange and has b ...
. On 1 July 2013, Ericsson announced it would acquire the media management company
Red Bee Media
Red Bee Media, formerly Ericsson Broadcast and Media Services (EBMS), is an international broadcasting and media services company and the largest access provider in Europe. Red Bee has its headquarters in London, England, with branch offices in ...
, subject to regulatory approval. The acquisition was completed on 9 May 2014. In September 2013, Ericsson completed its acquisition of Microsoft's Mediaroom business and televisions services, originally announced in April the same year. The acquisition makes Ericsson the largest provider of IPTV and multi-screen services in the world, by market share; it was renamed
Ericsson Mediaroom
Mediaroom is a collection of software for operators to deliver IPTV (IPTV) subscription services, including content-protected, live, digital video recorder, video on demand, multiscreen, and applications. These services can be delivered via a ran ...
. In September 2014, Ericsson acquired majority stake in
Apcera
Apcera is an American cloud infrastructure company that provides a container management platform to deploy, orchestrate and govern containers and applications across on-premises and cloud-based infrastructure.
Company Overview
Apcera was found ...
for cloud policy compliance. In October 2015, Ericsson completed the acquisition of
Envivio
Envivio was a software-based video processing and delivery company. It was founded in 2000 in San Francisco by Julien Signes, the president and CEO. In 2015, the company was acquired by Ericsson. In 2019, Ericsson sold its television business un ...
, a software encoding company. In April 2016, Ericsson acquired Polish and Ukrainian operations of software development company
Ericpol
Ericpol (formerly Ericpol Telecom) is a Polish company operating in IT field. It specialises in the production and development of software for telecommunication and M2M, as well as enterprises that base their activities on modern technologies. Th ...
, a long-time supplier to Ericsson. Approximately 2,300 Ericpol employees joined Ericsson, bringing software development competence in radio, cloud, and IP.
On 20 June 2017, Bloomberg disclosed that Ericsson hired Morgan Stanley to explore the sale of its media businesses. The Red Bee Media business was kept in-house as an independent subsidiary company, as no suitable buyer was found, but a 51% stake of the remainder of the Media Solution division was sold to private equity firm One Equity Partners, the new company being named MediaKind. The transaction was completed on 31 January 2019. In February 2018, Ericsson acquired the location-based mobile
data management platform
A data management platform (DMP) is a software platform used for collecting and managing data. They allow businesses to identify audience segments, which can be used to target specific users and contexts in online advertising campaigns. DMPs may u ...
Placecast. Ericsson has since integrated Placecast's platform and capabilities with its programmatic mobile ad subsidiary,
Emodo. In May 2018, SoftBank partnered with Ericsson to trial new radio technology. In September 2020, Ericsson acquired US-based carrier equipment manufacturer
Cradlepoint
Cradlepoint is a Boise, Idaho-based technology company that develops cloud-managed wireless edge networking equipment. The company was founded in 2006. Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson completed its acquisition of the company in Novem ...
for $1.1 billion.
In November 2021, Ericsson announced it had reached an agreement to acquire
Vonage
Vonage (, legal name Vonage Holdings Corp.) is an American cloud communications provider operating as a subsidiary of Ericsson. Headquartered in Holmdel Township, New Jersey, the organization was founded in 1998 as ''Min-X'' as a provider of resi ...
for $6.2 billion. The acquisition completed in July 2022.
Corporate governance
, members of the board of directors of LM Ericsson were:
Leif Johansson,
Jacob Wallenberg
Jacob Wallenberg (born 13 January 1956) is a Swedish banker and industrialist, currently serving as a board member for multiple companies. ''The Guardian'' has once quoted him as the prince in Sweden's royal family of finance.
Biography
Earl ...
, Kristin S. Rinne, Helena Stjernholm, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, Börje Ekholm, Ulf J. Johansson, Mikael Lännqvist, Zlatko Hadzic, Kjell-Åke Soting, Nora Denzel, Kristin Skogen Lund, Pehr Claesson, Karin Åberg and Roger Svensson.
Research and development
Ericsson has structured its R&D in three levels depending on when products or technologies will be introduced to customers and users. Its research and development organization is part of 'Group Function Technology' and addresses several facets of network architecture: wireless access networks; radio access technologies; broadband technologies; packet technologies; multimedia technologies; services software; EMF safety and sustainability; security; and global services.
The head of research since 2012 is
Sara Mazur
Birgit ''Sara'' Mazur, born 8 May 1966, is a Swedish physicist, electrical engineer, and business executive.
Sara Mazur grew up in Stockholm and attended the Royal Institute of Technology, graduating with degrees in 1989 and 1994 in plasma physi ...
.
Group Function Technology holds research co-operations with several major universities and research institutes including
Lund University
, motto = Ad utrumque
, mottoeng = Prepared for both
, established =
, type = Public research university
, budget = SEK 9 billion [Eötvös Loránd University
Eötvös Loránd University ( hu, Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem, ELTE) is a Hungarian public research university based in Budapest. Founded in 1635, ELTE is one of the largest and most prestigious public higher education institutions in Hung ...]
in Hungary and
Beijing Institute of Technology
Beijing Institute of Technology (abbreviated BIT; Simplified Chinese characters, Simplified Chinese: 北京理工大学; Traditional Chinese characters, Traditional Chinese: 北京理工大學; pinyin: Běijīng Lǐgōng Dàxué), is a National u ...
in China. Ericsson also holds research co-operations within several European research programs such as
GigaWam and
OASE. Ericsson holds 33,000 granted patents and is the number-one holder of GSM/GPRS/EDGE, WCDMA/HSPA, and LTE essential patents. In 2021, the
WIPO
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO; french: link=no, Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle (OMPI)) is one of the 15 specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN). Pursuant to the 1967 Convention Establishin ...
’s annual
World Intellectual Property Indicators World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPI) is an annual statistical report published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The publication provides an overview of the activity in the areas of patents, utility models, trademarks, ...
report ranked Ericsson's number of patent applications published under the
PCT System as 6th in the world, with 1,989 patent applications being published during 2020.
This position is up from their previous ranking as 7th in 2019 with 1,698 applications.
Ericsson hosts a developer program called Ericsson Developer Connection designed to encourage development of applications and services. Ericsson also has an open innovation initiative for beta applications and beta API's & tools called Ericsson Labs. The company hosts several internal innovation competitions among its employees.
In May 2022, it was announced that Ericsson and Intel are pooling R&D excellence to create high-performing Cloud RAN solutions. The organisations have pooled to launch a tech hub in California, USA. The hub focuses on the benefits that Ericsson Cloud RAN and Intel technology can bring to: improving energy efficiency and network performance, reducing time to market, and monetizing new business opportunities such as enterprise applications.
Products and services
Ericsson's business includes technology research, development, network systems and software development, and running operations for telecom service providers.
and software Ericsson offers end-to-end services for all major mobile communication standards, and has three main business units.
Business Area Networks
Business Area Networks, previously called Business Unit Networks, develop network infrastructure for communication needs over mobile and
fixed connections.
Its products include radio base stations,
radio network controllers,
mobile switching center
Network switching subsystem (NSS) (or GSM core network) is the component of a GSM system that carries out call out and mobility management functions for mobile phones roaming on the network of base stations. It is owned and deployed by mobi ...
s and
service application nodes. Operators use Ericsson products to migrate from 2G to 3G and, most recently, to 4G networks.
The company's network division has been described as a driver in the development of 2G, 3G, 4G/LTE and 5G technology, and the evolution towards all-IP, and it develops and deploys advanced LTE systems, but it is still developing the older
GSM
The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such as ...
,
WCDMA
The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the Inte ...
, and
CDMA
Code-division multiple access (CDMA) is a channel access method used by various radio communication technologies. CDMA is an example of multiple access, where several transmitters can send information simultaneously over a single communication ...
technologies. The company's networks portfolio also includes microwave transport, Internet Protocol (IP) networks, fixed-access services for copper and fiber, and mobile broadband modules, several levels of fixed broadband access, radio access networks from small
pico cell
A picocell is a small cellular base station typically covering a small area, such as in-building (offices, shopping malls, train stations, stock exchanges, etc.), or more recently in-aircraft. In cellular networks, picocells are typically used to ...
s to high-capacity macro cells and controllers for radio base stations.
Network services
Ericsson's network rollout services employ in-house capabilities, subcontractors and central resources to make changes to live networks. Services such as technology deployment, network transformation, support services and network optimization are also provided.
Business Area Digital Services
This unit provides core networks, Operations Support Systems such as network management and analytics, and Business Support Systems such as billing and mediation. Within the Digital Services unit, there is an m-Commerce offering, which focuses on service providers and facilitates their working with financial institutions and intermediaries. Ericsson has announced m-commerce deals with Western Union and African wireless carrier MTN.
Business Area Managed Services
The unit is active in 180 countries; it supplies managed services, systems integration, consulting, network rollout, design and optimization, broadcast services, learning services and support.
The company also works with television and media, public safety, and utilities. Ericsson claims to manage networks that serve more than 1 billion subscribers worldwide,
and to support customer networks that serve more than 2.5 billion subscribers.
Broadcast services
Ericsson's Broadcast Services unit was evolved into a unit called
Red Bee Media
Red Bee Media, formerly Ericsson Broadcast and Media Services (EBMS), is an international broadcasting and media services company and the largest access provider in Europe. Red Bee has its headquarters in London, England, with branch offices in ...
, which has been spun out into a joint venture. It deals with the
playout
In broadcasting, channel playout is the generation of the source signal of a radio or television channel produced by a broadcaster, coupled with the transmission of this signal for primary distribution or direct-to-audience distribution via any ...
of live and pre-recorded, commercial and public service television programmes, including
presentation
A presentation conveys information from a speaker to an audience. Presentations are typically demonstrations, introduction, lecture, or speech meant to inform, persuade, inspire, motivate, build goodwill, or present a new idea/product. Presenta ...
(continuity announcements),
trailers
Trailer may refer to: a
Transportation
* Trailer (vehicle), an unpowered vehicle pulled by a powered vehicle
** Bicycle trailer, a wheeled frame for hitching to a bicycle to tow cargo or passengers
** Full-trailer
** Semi-trailer
**Horse trailer ...
, and ancillary access services such as closed-caption
subtitles
Subtitles and captions are lines of dialogue or other text displayed at the bottom of the screen in films, television programs, video games or other visual media. They can be transcriptions of the screenplay, translations of it, or informati ...
,
audio description
Audio description, also referred to as a video description, described video, or more precisely called a visual description, is a form of narration used to provide information surrounding key visual elements in a media work (such as a film or telev ...
and in-vision
sign language
Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign l ...
interpreters. Its media management services consist of Managed Media Preparation and Managed Media Internet Delivery.
Divested businesses
Sony Ericsson
Sony Mobile Communications Inc. ( ja, ソニーモバイルコミュニケーションズ株式会社) was a multinational telecommunications company founded on October 1, 2001, as a joint venture between Sony Group Corporation and Ericsson. I ...
Mobile Communications AB (Sony Ericsson) was a joint venture with
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
that merged the previous mobile telephone operations of both companies. It manufactured mobile telephones, accessories and personal computer (PC) cards. Sony Ericsson was responsible for product design and development, marketing, sales, distribution and customer services. On 16 February 2012, Sony announced it had completed the full acquisition of Sony Ericsson, after which it changed name to Sony Mobile Communications, and nearly a year later it moved headquarters from Sweden to Japan.
Mobile phones
As a joint venture with Sony, Ericsson's mobile telephone production was moved into the company Sony Ericsson in 2001. The following is a list of mobile phones marketed under the brand name Ericsson.
![Ericsson-gf-768](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Ericsson-gf-768.jpg)
* Ericsson GS88 – Cancelled mobile telephone where Ericsson invented the "Smartphone" name for
* Ericsson GA628 – Known for its
Z80
The Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor introduced by Zilog as the startup company's first product. The Z80 was conceived by Federico Faggin in late 1974 and developed by him and his 11 employees starting in early 1975. The first working samples were ...
CPU
* Ericsson SH888 – First mobile telephone to have wireless modem capabilities
* Ericsson A1018 – Dualband cellphone, notably easy to hack
* Ericsson A2618 & Ericsson A2628 – Dualband cellphones. Use graphical LCD display based on PCF8548 I²C controller.
* Ericsson PF768
* Ericsson GF768
* Ericsson DH318 - One of the earliest TDMA/AMPS phones in the USA
* Ericsson GH388
* Ericsson T10 – Colourful Cellphone
* Ericsson T18 – Business model of the T10, with active flip
*
Ericsson T28 – Very slim telephone. Uses
lithium polymer
A lithium polymer battery, or more correctly lithium-ion polymer battery (abbreviated as LiPo, LIP, Li-poly, lithium-poly and others), is a rechargeable battery of lithium-ion technology using a polymer electrolyte instead of a liquid electrolyt ...
batteries
''Ericsson T28'' FAQ use graphical LCD display based on PCF8558 I²C controller.
* Ericsson T20s
* Ericsson T29s – Similar to the T28s, but with WAP support
* Ericsson T29m – pre-alpha prototype for the T39m
* Ericsson T36m – Prototype for the T39m. Announced in yellow and blue. Never hit the market due to release T39m
*
Ericsson T39
Ericsson T39 was a GSM mobile phone released by Ericsson Mobile Communications in 2001, it was the follow-up to the T28 and T29.
The prototype, which was unveiled in 2000, was the second phone with built-in Bluetooth, while the first was ''Erics ...
– Similar to the T28, but with a GPRS modem, Bluetooth and triband capabilities
* Ericsson T65
*
Ericsson T66
Ericsson T66 is a discontinued mobile phone created by Ericsson Mobile Communications, their smallest ever. Released in September 2001, it surpassed the tiny Nokia 8210 in smallness and weight at the time. At just 59 grams, it remains as one of ...
* Ericsson T68m – The first Ericsson handset to have a color display, later branded as
Sony Ericsson T68i
a T68i a T68m The Ericsson T68m (often called simply T68) was a candy-bar style mobile phone by Ericsson Mobile Communications. Launched in time for the 2001 Christmas season, the T68 was the first Ericsson mobile phone to have a colour screen, a ...
* Ericsson R250s Pro – Fully dust and water resistant telephone
*
Ericsson R310s
* Ericsson R320s
* Ericsson R320s Titan – Limited Edition with titanium front
* Ericsson R320s GPRS – Prototype for testing GPRS networks
* Ericsson R360m – Pre-alpha prototype for the R520m
*
Ericsson R380
The Ericsson R380 is a GSM smartphone developed by Ericsson Mobile Communications. It combines the functions of a mobile phone and a personal digital assistant (PDA), and was introduced at CEBIT on 18 March 1999.
Released in November 2000, it wa ...
– First cellphone to use the
Symbian OS
Symbian is a discontinued mobile operating system (OS) and computing platform designed for smartphones. It was originally developed as a proprietary software OS for personal digital assistants in 1998 by the Symbian Ltd. consortium. Symbian ...
* Ericsson R520m – Similar to the T39, but in a candy bar form factor and with added features such as a built-in
speakerphone
A speakerphone is a telephone with a microphone and loudspeaker provided separately from those in the handset. This device allows multiple persons to participate in a conversation. The loudspeaker broadcasts the voice or voices of those on the ot ...
and an optical proximity sensor
* Ericsson R520m UMTS – Prototype to test UMTS networks
* Ericsson R520m SyncML – Prototype to test the SyncML implementation
* Ericsson R580m – Announced in several press releases. Supposed to be a successor of the R380s without external antenna and with color display
* Ericsson R600
Telephones
*
Ericsson Dialog
Ericsson Dialog is a Swedish telephone model by Ericsson, released 1964. Millions of the model were sold and it retained its place in homes well into the 1990s. The Ericsson company presented King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden with a unique handmad ...
*
Ericofon
The Ericofon is a one-piece plastic telephone created by the Ericsson Company of Sweden and marketed through the second half of the 20th century. It was the first commercially marketed telephone to incorporate the dial and handset into a singl ...
Ericsson Mobile Platforms
Ericsson Mobile Platforms
Ericsson Mobile Platforms (EMP) was the name of a company within the Ericsson group that supplied ''mobile platforms'', i.e. the technological basis on which a cellular phone product can be built. The main office was in Lund, Sweden.
EMP was one ...
existed for eight years; on 12 February 2009, Ericsson announced it would be merged with the mobile platform company of
STMicroelectronics
STMicroelectronics N.V. commonly referred as ST or STMicro is a Dutch multinational corporation and technology company of French-Italian origin headquartered in Plan-les-Ouates near Geneva, Switzerland and listed on the French stock market. ST ...
, ST-NXP Wireless, to create a 50/50 joint venture owned by Ericsson and STMicroelectronics.
This joint venture was divested in 2013 and remaining activities can be found in
Ericsson Modems
(lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informat ...
and
STMicroelectronics
STMicroelectronics N.V. commonly referred as ST or STMicro is a Dutch multinational corporation and technology company of French-Italian origin headquartered in Plan-les-Ouates near Geneva, Switzerland and listed on the French stock market. ST ...
. Ericsson Mobile Platform ceased being a legal entity early 2009.
Ericsson Enterprise
Starting in 1983 Ericsson Enterprise provided communications systems and services for businesses, public entities and educational institutions. It produced products for
voice over Internet protocol
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...
(VoIP)-based
private branch exchange
A business telephone system is a multiline telephone system typically used in business environments, encompassing systems ranging in technology from the key telephone system (KTS) to the private branch exchange (PBX).
A business telephone syst ...
s (PBX),
wireless local area network
A wireless LAN (WLAN) is a wireless computer network that links two or more devices using wireless communication to form a local area network (LAN) within a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, campus, or office buildi ...
s (WLAN), and mobile
intranet
An intranet is a computer network for sharing information, easier communication, collaboration tools, operational systems, and other computing services within an organization, usually to the exclusion of access by outsiders. The term is used in c ...
s.
Ericsson Enterprise operated mainly from Sweden but also operated through regional units and other partners/distributors. In 2008 it was sold to
Aastra
Aastra Technologies Limited, formerly headquartered in Concord, Ontario, Canada, made products and systems for accessing communication networks, including the Internet. Its products included residential and business telephone terminals, screen ...
.
Corruption
On 7 December 2019, Ericsson agreed to pay more than $1.2 billion (€1.09 billion) to settle
U.S. Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
FCPA criminal and civil investigations into foreign corruption. US authorities accused the company of conducting a campaign of corruption between 2000 and 2016 across China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Kuwait and Djibouti. Ericsson admitted to paying bribes, falsifying books and records and failing to implement reasonable internal accounting controls in an attempt to strengthen its position in the telecommunications industry.
In 2022, an internal investigation into corruption inside the company was leaked by the
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Inc. (ICIJ), is an independent global network of 280 investigative journalists and over 140 media organizations spanning more than 100 countries. It is based in Washington, D.C. with pe ...
. It detailed corruption in at least 10 countries. Ericsson has admitted "serious breaches of compliance rules".
The leak also revealed that some subcontractors working on behalf of Ericsson paid bribes to the Islamic State in order to continue operating the telecom network in occupied regions of Iraq.
See also
*
Cedergren
*
Damovo
Damovo is a provider of information and communication technology services. The company, owned bGlobal Growth has a regional presence across Europe, the Americas and APAC, with a global support capability spanning over 150 countries.
History
Da ...
*
Ericsson Nikola Tesla
Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d. is the Croatian affiliate of the Swedish telecommunications equipment manufacturer Ericsson. The company is named after the inventor Nikola Tesla and is the largest specialized provider of modern telecommunications pr ...
*
Erlang (programming language)
Erlang ( ) is a general-purpose, concurrent, functional programming language, and a garbage-collected runtime system. The term Erlang is used interchangeably with Erlang/OTP, or Open Telecom Platform (OTP), which consists of the Erlang runtime ...
*
Investor AB
Investor AB is a Swedish investment and ''de facto'' conglomerate holding company. It was founded in 1916 and is still controlled by the Wallenberg family through their Foundation Asset Management company FAM. The company owns a controlling st ...
*
List of networking hardware vendors
Networking hardware typically refers to equipment facilitating the use of a computer network. Typically, this includes routers, switches, access points, network interface cards and other related hardware. This is a list of notable vendors who p ...
*
List of Sony Ericsson products
*
Red Jade
The Red Jade was Ericsson's unreleased handheld console, intended to compete with the Game Boy Advance.
History Development
Fredrik Liljegren founded Red Jade as a startup company in February 2000. The startup included other notable developers s ...
*
Tandberg Television
Ericsson Television, formerly Tandberg Television, is a company providing MPEG-4 AVC, MPEG-2 and HEVC encoding decoding and control solutions, plus stream processing, packaging, network adaption and related products, for Contribution & Distribu ...
References
Further reading
* John Meurling & Richard Jeans (1994) ''A switch in time: AXE – creating a foundation for the information age''. London: Communications Week International. .
* John Meurling & Richard Jeans (1997). ''The ugly duckling''. Stockholm: Ericsson Mobile Communications. .
* John Meurling & Richard Jeans (2000). ''The Ericsson Chronicle: 125 years in telecommunications''. Stockholm: Informationsförlaget. .
* ''The Mobile Phone Book: The Invention of the Mobile Telephone Industry''.
* Mobile media and applications – from concept to cash: successful service creation and launch.
* Anders Pehrsson (1996). ''International Strategies in Telecommunications''. London: Routledge Research.
External links
*
*
* General reference to all chapters on the Ericsson history:
Ericsson Logo
{{Authority control
Companies based in Stockholm
Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange
Companies listed on the Nasdaq
Companies listed on Nasdaq Stockholm
Companies related to the Wallenberg family
Electronics companies of Sweden
Manufacturing companies established in 1876
Mobile phone manufacturers
Multinational companies headquartered in Sweden
Networking hardware companies
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Swedish companies established in 1876
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Video equipment manufacturers