Adopting 5G is a ‘matter of survival’ for telcos, says Ericsson

Even as domestic telcos struggle to come out of their deep financial troubles, Swedish telecom equipment-maker Ericsson said it is a “matter of survival” for them to embrace 5G. The domestic telecom industry is still reeling under financial woes inflicted on them by the entry of the deep-pocketed newcomer Reliance Jio’s aggressive play and analysts are divided over when can a revival happen. A senior official from Ericsson acknowledged that the lowest average revenue per user generated by the domestic telcos is the “real challenge”.

“It is more a matter of survival for our customers to move into 5G,” Ludvig Landgren, head of network applications and cloud infrastructure for Southeast Asia, Oceania and India, told reporters here. Speaking on the sidelines of a company event, he said the need to switch over to 5G is because of the financial benefits the newest generation of communication offers.