The following are excerpts from an interview with CEO Patrick Johansson of Ecricsson-LG conducted by The Korea Post media.—Ed.
Question: What are your strong points and competitive edge over you competitors in Korea and around the world?
Answer: One of our core competencies is the industry's best R&D center. Based on close and global R&D cooperation with Ericsson and more than 500 excellent engineers, we are developing next generation technologies and providing optimized technologies and solutions to meet various needs of customers in Korea, Northeast Asia, and worldwide.
Ericsson is a global leader in communications solutions and services with a history of over 140 years. More than 40% of the world’s mobile traffic is carried over Ericsson networks. Based on Ericsson's global leadership, Ericsson-LG utilizes Ericsson's global channels and infrastructure in more than 180 countries to contribute to the development of the Korean mobile communications market, as well as providing technology and services tailored to the Korean market and maintaining technology leadership.
In the past, mobile operators have been providing services based on telecom infrastructure as their main business. Ericsson is accelerating efforts to provide them with a variety of telecommunication service models to enable mobile operators to create new market opportunities beyond their current business limitations. In the future, it is expected that ICT technology will change the paradigm in various industries based on cloud and mobility. Ericsson provides a variety of new solutions to create new service models that leverage communications technologies in conjunction with transportation, automotive, utility, medical, and energy industries.
5G is the foundation for expanding the potential of the Networked Society.5G will enable organizations to move into new markets and build new revenue streams with radically new business models and use cases. We are working with leading customers, industries and academia for the emerging 5G market. Ericsson participates in the European Union's METIS project, leading the 5G technical standard and is a member of 3GPPP for the 5G technical standardization. In addition, Ericsson-LG participates in the 5G Forum, a joint forum of industry, academia and research to study 5G technology and build a future roadmap in Korea. As such, we are continuing our efforts to accelerate the era of connectivity that connects people and things to the Internet based on gigabit wireless communication, which is 1000 times faster than LTE, by securing leadership in 5G technology.
Q: What are your main products and services?
A: Ericsson-LG provides next-generation ICT solutions and services for people, business and society. We have comprehensive industry solutions ranging from Cloud services and Mobile Broadband to Network Design and Optimization.
Our services, software and infrastructure - especially in mobility, broadband and the cloud - are enabling the communications industry and other sectors to do better business, increase efficiency, improve user experience and capture new opportunities.
Q: What is your vision for the future in the Korean market?
A: Our vision is to create a truly Networked Society where every person and every industry is empowered to reach their full potential. Ericsson has brought the benefits of mobile communication to billions of people all over the world. We are now committed to extending this leadership by shaping the Networked Society. We empower people through technology, transform industries to deliver more value, and advance society through sustainable development.
As one of the most connected countries, Korea serves as a platform for all the industries to flourish, but it also can cause stiff competition among such businesses. Ericsson-LG differentiates ourselves by thinking and working as a global company. We work with local companies both big and small. Korea is a very advanced and mature market, and with our leading technology and Korea’s strong ICT infrastructure and strategic location, we believe we can extend more global opportunities and we can take a part to improve Korea’s business environment.
Q: Please introduce brief the history of Ericsson in Korea and Ericsson-LG:
A: In 1896, Ericsson installed Korea’s first magneto telephone switch in Emperor Gojong’s imperial residence. Since then, Korea has become an irreplaceable partner for Ericsson.
In 2010, Ericsson-LG was established between Ericsson and LG Electronics. Ericsson currently holds a 75 percent stake.
Over the past three decades, Ericsson-LG has been working closely with all the largest mobile operators in Korea to ensure that they deliver innovative and differentiated services to their customers through ongoing technological innovation.
As a key partner of the mobile operators in Korea, we’ve supported early commercialization of new technologies, from commercialization of CDMA to 4G LTE including VoLTE, LTE-A and broadband LTE. And now we are fully aligned to bring 5G with our leading technology innovations.