Ericsson gearing up for services in 4G/LTE and IT

• Next generation networks - meeting the rising demand for mobility and handling the increasing data traffic - call for a shift in the telecom and IT service domain
• Ericsson invests in people; competence in service innovation, remote operations and support for 4G/LTE and IT environments
• Already about 50 experts within LTE remote operations and support in Ericsson's Romanian Global Service Center

Consumer demands are changing and data traffic is rapidly increasing. Next generation networks are being introduced, and telecom and IT are more interdependent than ever. For operators this means opportunities to innovate and attract customers. The shift creates possibilities for them - together with governments, utilities, advertisers, media companies and other players - to develop new business models and services.

To fulfill the potential of their next generation networks and IT environments, an increasing number of operators are taking an integrated approach to business models, business processes and customer experience. To meet the evolving needs of operators for support and operations for both 4G/LTE and IT, Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) is investing further in competence.

Magnus Mandersson, Head of Business Unit Global Services at Ericsson, says: "Our service business is a people business. It has grown significantly over the years, and we foresee that the importance of services will continue to grow. We are sticking to our formula of combining the skills of our service professionals and the scale of our global operations in service delivery, and we are now accelerating the capability growth in dedicated centers."

Ericsson is taking advantage of its scalability by concentrating its activities in four Global Service Centers located in Romania, Mexico, India and China. Today about 40 percent of all service deliveries can now be made remotely.

Investments in the center in Romania mean Ericsson is set to handle remote operations and support for LTE technology, with a strengthened position as the industry leader in this area. Operating networks on behalf of customers is an opportunity to gather and reuse the experiences gained in the ongoing deployment of LTE networks around the globe.

In addition, a continued focus on design, and integration and management of operators' IT environments - including IT data centers, service layer, business and operations support systems - has prepared Ericsson for the customer demand in the strategic IT space.

Stephen Bury, Head of Global Services Center Romania, says: "Our Romanian center is staffed around the clock to make sure that our customers' subscribers benefit from high network availability, call quality and minimum restoration time in case of incidents. Already today we have about 50 LTE service professionals specifically trained to remotely support and operate customers' LTE networks globally. We also have employees driving innovation and specializing in software application development and remote IT operations for our customers, mainly in Europe. In particular, we focus on areas such as IPTV solutions, sophisticated discount themes and end-to-end content delivery solutions including user portals for sporting events - all to sharpen the user experience."  

Globally, Ericsson has over 45,000 service professionals working in 175 countries. The majority are working regionally or locally, close to our customers. In addition, Ericsson is working with an average of 15,000 subcontractors at any given time. The combination makes Ericsson well positioned to support customers' needs for services around the world.

Notes to editors:

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Next stop for 4G/LTE - Denmark

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Ericsson is the world's leading provider of technology and services to telecom operators. Ericsson is the leader in 2G, 3G and 4G mobile technologies, and provides support for networks with over 2 billion subscribers and has the leading position in managed services. The company's portfolio comprises mobile and fixed network infrastructure, telecom services, software, broadband and multimedia solutions for operators, enterprises and the media industry. The Sony Ericsson and ST-Ericsson joint ventures provide consumers with feature-rich personal mobile devices. 

Ericsson is advancing its vision of being the "prime driver in an all-communicating world" through innovation, technology, and sustainable business solutions. Working in 175 countries, more than 90,000 employees generated revenue of SEK 203.3 billion (USD 28.2 billion) in 2010. Founded in 1876 with the headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden, Ericsson is listed on NASDAQ OMX, Stockholm and NASDAQ New York.

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