Ericsson and Telecom Operators Join Forces in New Digital Services Venture

By Dominic Chopping

STOCKHOLM--Ericsson will join forces with a group of global telecom operators as they work to make it easier to develop new digital services.

The Swedish telecom-equipment company said Thursday that the deal will see the formation of a new company to accelerate adoption and innovation of network APIs--the interfaces that enable applications and mobile networks to communicate with each other and allow developers to build software applications.

By combining network APIs globally, the new company aims to ensure that new applications will work anywhere and on any network, which will drive new monetization opportunities, Ericsson said.

Niklas Heuveldop, chief executive of Ericsson's Vonage cloud-communications subsidiary, said that developers will benefit from accessing advanced network capabilities in partner networks through common APIs, accelerating the digital transformation of businesses and the public sector.

"This groundbreaking, open industry collaboration effectively removes the single largest barrier for developers to leverage mobile networks to their full potential," he said.

Ericsson said that by making advanced network capabilities easily accessible it will open up a new wave of app development and allow developers to create new use cases across many sectors.

Companies committing to the deal include America Movil, AT&T, Bharti Airtel, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Reliance Jio, Singtel, Telefonica, Telstra, T-Mobile, Verizon and Vodafone, but additional telecom operators are encouraged to join, it said.

Upon closing, which is expected in early 2025, Ericsson will hold 50% of the equity in the venture while the telecom providers will hold 50% in total.

Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 12, 2024 10:09 ET (14:09 GMT)

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