Ericsson named Frost Radar leader in global 5G network infrastructure market in 2020

With over 130 commercial 5G agreements with unique communications service providers and 83 live 5G networks around the world, Ericsson has been named as the market leader in global 5G network infrastructure in 2020 by leading business consulting firm, Frost & Sullivan.

Ericsson ranks highest in the 5G network infrastructure market in the latest Frost Radar, leveraging its current leadership in 4G network infrastructure market. According to Frost & Sullivan, the 5G network infrastructure market includes radio access networks (RAN), transport networks and core networks, which may include one or more edge networks.

In its latest report, Frost & Sullivan independently plotted the top 20 companies from a field of more than 100 global industry participants. These companies either lead the market overall, lead a market segment, or were thought leaders in certain segments. The Frost Radar reveals the market position of companies in a particular industry using their Growth and Innovation scores as highlighted in the Frost Radar methodology.

Head of Ericsson Sri Lanka Vinod Samarawickrama says, “Recognition as the leader in Frost & Sullivan’s Frost Radar highlights our technology leadership, market competitiveness, innovation and most importantly, our commitment to our customers. We have always been driven by our unwavering focus on R&D to bring the best-in-class product solutions and we will continue to build on our 4G/5G portfolio to best serve our customers’ needs.”

Growth and Innovation indices

The Frost Radar measures growth rates and absolute revenue, combining them with several other factors to measure a company’ performance along the Growth axis. It also measures innovation for each company by assessing its product portfolio, examining how scalable its innovations are and looking at the efficacy of its R&D strategy, as well as other factors.

Commenting about Ericsson and the Growth Index, Frost & Sullivan’s Information & Communication Technology group Senior Industry Analyst Troy Morley says: “As a leader in the 4G infrastructure market, Ericsson enters the 5G market with a large customer base. The company has done an excellent job keeping its current customers and adding new customers… Ericsson maintains a significant pipeline of customers that have yet to move to 5G but will over the coming years. Ericsson has spent the past few years adjusting its overall strategy to focus on profitability. The company recently indicated that the turnaround has been successful, and the company has significantly improved profitability and its financial position.”

With regard to Ericsson and the Innovation Index, Morley says: “Ericsson has proven its ability to scale its innovations globally with 2G, 3G, 4G, and now 5G. For 5G, the company currently reports 72 live 5G networks in 37 countries (the highest level Frost & Sullivan has seen publicly reported). The company invests significant amounts in R&D; this is essential in a market where technology is always evolving.”

A leading 5G portfolio

Ericsson has evolved its end-to-end 5G offerings to include the Ericsson Radio System, 5G Core, Orchestration and 5G Transport as well as professional services. The company has introduced innovative software solutions such as Ericsson Spectrum Sharing, 5G carrier aggregation and Uplink Booster, to significantly improve coverage, user throughput and spectral efficiency. 

These solutions support service providers in deploying and evolving 5G to ensure the best end-user experience. In addition, Ericsson Radio System products delivered since 2015 can support 5G New Radio (NR) capability through remote software installation.

Ericsson Digital Services offers a cloud native dual-mode 5G Core solution for smarter networks to drive smarter business, allowing communications service providers to offer a multitude of new business opportunities for mobile users and industries. Ericsson network automation solutions will improve network efficiency, performance, customer experience and enable new revenue streams for new 5G use cases.

In February, Ericsson was also named a Leader in the 2021 Magic Quadrant for 5G Network Infrastructure for Communications Service Providers by independent IT research and advisory company, Gartner.