Telecom Lead Europe: Mobile equipment major Ericsson has
invested close to SEK 33 billion in 2011 in research and development.
The company employs about 22,000 engineers in R&D.
Ericsson claims that the company is the largest holder of essential patents for
wireless communication, with over 90 license agreements and 30,000 patents.
During the annual general meeting, Ericsson recognized
three employees as “Inventors of the Year.” Thomas Cheng, from
Ericsson Research in San Jose, California, USA, Paul Schliwa-Bertling, from
Ericsson in Linköping, Sweden, and Iana Siomina, from Ericsson Research in
Kista, Sweden, are altogether responsible for 275 patent applications.
At the AGM, Ericsson President and CEO Hans Vestberg gave
an overview of Ericsson’s focus areas: mobile broadband, managed services, and
OSS/BSS. Business Unit Support Solutions, formerly Multimedia, has defined a
new strategy in 2012 that builds on OSS/BSS, TV and media solutions as well as
M-Commerce.
Net sales of Ericsson were SEK 227 billion for 2011.
During the same period, Ericsson increased its market share for mobile network
equipment by 6 percent to 38 percent. It holds the number one position as a
global telecom equipment vendor and is twice as large as its nearest
competitor.
Vestberg said 2011 was a tough year for Ericsson’s joint
ventures, which both reported losses.
Vestberg told shareholders that ST-Ericsson presented a
new business strategy and announced steps to return to profitability.
Subscriptions for mobile broadband, or Internet via mobile devices increased 60
percent in 2011. By the end of 2011, there were 6 billion mobile subscriptions
in the world. By 2016, Ericsson predicts that mobile broadband subscriptions
will go up to five billion.
