(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. 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 comput ...
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) 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 communicat ...
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 60 ...
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 s ...
, 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 Kreuger is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*David Kreuger, Swedish songwriter
* Frederik H. Kreuger (1928–2015), Dutch high-voltage scientist, professor emeritus and a professional author
*Ivar Kreuger (1880–1932), Swedish ...
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 limit ...
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 ...
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 in central
Stockholm 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

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.
Ericsson Telephones Limited (ETL) was a British telephone equipment manufacturer based in Beeston, Nottinghamshire.
The company was founded as British L. M. Ericsson Manufacturing Co. Ltd. in 1903 as a joint-venture between the National Telephone ...
) 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 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 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 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 ignored the growth of
automatic telephony
telephone exchange, telephone switch, or central office is a telecommunications system used in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or in large enterprises. It interconnects telephone subscriber lines or virtual circuits of digital syst ...
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 List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, the subsequent
Great Depression 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. ...
, 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 fi ...
(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 60 ...
, and some Swedish government backing.
Marcus Wallenberg Jr.
Marcus "Dodde" Wallenberg Jr. (5 October 1899 – 13 September 1982), was a Swedish banker, business manager and member of the Swedish Wallenberg family. He was the most influential representative for the Swedish industrial tradition and Swed ...
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

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
In electronics and telecommunications, a crossbar switch (cross-point switch, matrix switch) is a collection of switches arranged in a matrix configuration. A crossbar switch has multiple input and output lines that form a crossed pattern of int ...
equipment was used in telephone administrations in many countries.
In 1983 the company introduced the
ERIPAX 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)".

The growth of
GSM, which became a ''de facto'' world standard, combined with Ericsson's other mobile standards, such as
D-AMPS and
PDC PDC may refer to:
In science and technology Chemistry, biology and medicine
* Phosducin, a human protein and gene in the retina
* Pyridinium dichromate (Cornforth reagent), a chromium-based oxidant
* Pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, an enzyme ...
, 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 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 achie ...
(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 Inst ...
(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 I ...
(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 telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finlan ...
, 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. Ericsson was a significant developer of the WCDMA version of GSM, while US-based chip developer
Qualcomm 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 (telecommunication), signaling data between mobile phones and cell sites. It is developed by 3GP ...
, 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 I ...
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 telecommunica ...
(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 telecommunica ...
; 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 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 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 (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 ...
created the
Wireless Strategic Initiative
Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...
, a consortium of four telecommunications suppliers in Europe – Ericsson,
Nokia
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finlan ...
,
Alcatel (France) and
Siemens (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 corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...
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-up
The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet.
Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compos ...
s. In the same year,
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the devel ...
, 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 u ...
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 telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorola ...
(U.S.),
Lucent Technologies
Lucent Technologies, Inc. was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications equipment company headquartered in Murray Hill, New Jersey, Murray Hill, New Jersey. It was established on September 30, 1996, through the dives ...
(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 (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 semico ...
(then the sixth-largest semiconductor supplier and a subsidiary of
Siemens) 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-s ...
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.
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 Italian inventor and electrical engineer, known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based wireless telegraph system. This led to Marconi b ...
. In September 2006, Ericsson sold the greater part of its
defense business
Ericsson Microwave Systems, 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 19 ...
, which renamed the company to
Saab Microwave Systems.
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 r