What was the thinking behind reducing the company’s headcount? Are more such steps planned?
The mobile network market continues to show no growth, and inflationary pressures are expected to persist. This means we need to work on our cost base to support long-term, sustainable leadership. Initiatives to increase operational efficiency will continue through 2026, but they will not be announced separately.
How have Ericsson’s local manufacturing and R&D investments in India evolved, and what revenue growth do you project from India in 2026?
India is a strategic market for Ericsson and hosts our largest workforce of 21,500 professionals. Our Pune facility manufactures 4G and 5G equipment for the domestic market, while R&D centres in Chennai, Bengaluru, and Gurugram drive AI-powered 5G, early 6G research, and advanced network programmability.
Collaborations with the Indian Institute of Technology Madras on AI and responsible AI, along with local industry partnerships, position India as a hub for innovation that informs Ericsson’s global technology development and product strategy.
India continues to be a key growth engine for Ericsson, driven by strong 5G adoption and more than 10 million 5G fixed wireless access connections supporting digital inclusion.
What is the outlook for exports from India amid tariff uncertainty and shifting market demand?
Ericsson’s immediate priority remains supporting India’s nationwide 5G rollout, with domestically manufactured equipment currently focused on meeting the needs of Indian telecom operators. The Pune manufacturing facility has played a critical role in enabling large-scale 5G deployments across the country.
Now that Ericsson is a shareholder in Vodafone Idea, how do you view the company’s position and performance in the Indian market, especially after the government’s adjusted gross revenue decision?
We do not comment on operators or on the performance of specific companies. What we can say is that a healthy and sustainable telecom market structure is important for the entire ecosystem, as it supports long-term network investment, innovation, and service quality. In that context, greater clarity and stability around sector obligations are generally constructive for the market.
Ericsson holds a leading 5G market share in India. How do you plan to leverage this for cost-efficient exports from Indian facilities, including building sub-component ecosystems?
India is one of Ericsson’s most important markets globally, both in terms of scale and technology leadership. We are actively working with the government to strengthen the domestic telecom manufacturing ecosystem, increase local value addition, and develop a full-fledged sub-component supply chain. At the same time, we are encouraging global suppliers to set up operations in India, helping build a robust, end-to-end manufacturing ecosystem.
With North America accounting for 35 per cent of sales, how is Ericsson mitigating geopolitical risks — such as shifts in US manufacturing — while expanding in high-growth Asian markets like India?
Ericsson has a global and flexible supply chain, working closely with customers through its European, Asian, and American operations to respond quickly to market and customer needs. We have a global production footprint across most continents, with major operations in the US, Brazil, Mexico, India, China, Poland, Romania, Malaysia, and Estonia.
Do you see a shift in how telecom equipment companies think about networks as generative and agentic AI become mainstream for service providers, consumers, and enterprises?
The next step in industrialising AI will involve rolling it out to applications and devices such as large-scale sensor networks, drones, humanoids, and extended-reality (XR) glasses. These use cases will be distributed and will require wireless connectivity, while also placing new demands on networks, particularly for uplink capacity.
Best-effort connectivity, such as WiFi and 4G, will not be sufficient. Networks for the AI era will require advanced connectivity — starting with 5G Standalone (SA) and later 6G.
How is Ericsson balancing high R&D spending — 21 per cent of sales in 2025 — on AI-native networks with profitability, and what return on investment do you expect from launches like Ericsson On-Demand?
Technology leadership is at the core of our strategy, which includes continued strategic investment to lead in the 6G and AI era. We are entering 2026 from a position of financial strength, which allows us to keep making critical R&D investments to secure our technology leadership.
Since launching our core software-as-a-service offering, Ericsson On-Demand, we have seen growing interest from operators of all sizes. It is still early, but we are already engaging with several customers, planning trials, and jointly exploring how this new business model can support their strategic objectives.
What role will 5G SA networks and features like network slicing play in unlocking new monetisation for Indian telecom companies, and how does this fit in with your global intellectual property licensing growth target of 20 per cent of sales by 2026?
As AI scales, the focus will move beyond semiconductors and models. The next phase of industrialising AI will involve deploying it across applications and devices — from sensors and drones to humanoids and XR glasses. These distributed use cases will require advanced wireless connectivity. Best-effort networks will not be enough; 5G and later 6G will be essential.
By delivering high-performance, programmable networks that enable differentiated services and new monetisation opportunities, we are creating a path to growth for both Ericsson and the wider industry. We are also expanding beyond traditional communication service providers into areas such as enterprise connectivity, wireless wide-area network edge, mission-critical communications, private networks, and 5G-enabled laptops.
 "Börje Ekholm, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ericsson")
