Quick Links

Stockholm-headquartered telecoms equipment vendor Ericsson has announced that it plans to strengthen its multimedia business by focusing on Operations Support Systems/Business Support Systems (OSS/BSS), TV & Media and M-Commerce.

The company plans to leverage its recent acquisition of US firm Telcordia to consolidate its presence in the OSS/BSS market, with key positions in service fulfilment, assurance, network optimisation and real-time charging, as well as significant capabilities to support operators' end-to-end infrastructure.

Ericsson is also renaming its Business Unit Multimedia to Business Unit Support Solutions, in order to reinforce its commitment to solutions for customer experience, content management and delivery and mobile payments, according to Per Borgklint, Head of the new unit.

Its TV & Media operations will remain committed to offering solutions that enable operators and content owners to monetise video content through blended, multi-screen TV services.

Ericsson has evolved its M-Commerce strategy to "reflect the understanding that a focus on fast-tracking access to the ecosystem rather than scaling an Ericsson branded consumer service is the most effective way to bring our experience as a technology enabler to our partners". As a result of this strategic evolution, Ericsson will close its consumer Money Service in April.

"1.6 billion subscribers are served by Ericsson's charging and billing solutions," added Mr. Borgklint. "Our new solution Ericsson Converged Wallet allows telecom service providers to easily offer pre-paid customers m-wallets accounts. We believe our M-Commerce strategy will equip our partners - operators, financial institutions, online entertainment companies or merchants - to optimise all the opportunities this predicted market growth will offer with their consumers."

Editor's view: We appear to be in the midst of strategic revisions by the major equipment vendors: Nokia Siemens Networks announced plans last November to lay off a third of its workforce and focus on mobile broadband, while Alcatel-Lucent announced earlier this month that it will be placing customer experience at the heart of its product portfolio.

These strategic revisions and cost-cutting measures being implemented by the big European vendors appear to be driven by a fast-evolving marketplace and continued macro-economic pressures.

It will be interesting to see how the major Chinese vendors, such as Huawei and ZTE, respond to this change in focus by their European competition.

Search