In an exclusive interview with Telecom Review, Ericsson’s Head of Product Line 5G, Sibel Tombaz, shared the importance of being a sustainable vendor in the region and why they are focusing on indoor mobile connectivity and 5G RAN to contribute to developing digital infrastructure, among other insights.
By being the first sustainable telecom vendor, how will Ericsson continue to help service providers deploy networks for both enterprise and consumer markets?
If you look back, this is now the fifth year of deploying 5G globally. This is still a young technology, and we know that it is a technology that has been designed to serve many use cases. It's beyond mobile broadband, both for consumers and for enterprises. So we are extremely proud of our position in the market, deploying more than 60% of the global 5G networks. We have been doing that by enabling the ecosystem —deploying low, mid, and high bandwidths with high performance — and by deploying SA to enable different use cases to really create the infrastructure. We believe that, as of today, we are in a very strong position where the infrastructure is ready for enterprise and consumer applications to be deployed on top. We’re going forward, indeed, to start working on the applications and use cases, because we definitely believe that it's time to scale these deployments going forward. We see a lot of exciting applications that will grow with consumers, especially in the XR domain — different types of devices will appear. In enterprises for industry, it will be both wide-area and local-area applications. And we will support our customers and CSPs, both on the hardware and software applications, to utilize the best 5G networks to ensure different applications. We are definitely quite excited and ready for the next wave of 5G.
So what are the latest Ericsson 5G solutions that are being deployed related to indoor mobile connectivity? What is the feedback of the clients when using those solutions?
Starting from the outdoor [perspective], what we are trying to do is create the infrastructure. And it's important that we continue deploying 5G mid-bands outdoors because it's essential to get the performance needed for all these different use cases. But as we know, 80% of the time we actually spend indoors. Clearly, outdoor/indoor 5G connectivity needs to be improved.
We see that high-performing 5G connectivity is becoming an extremely critical infrastructure, not only for industry but also for consumer applications. And that's the reason we have a lot of different products in our portfolio lately, both in hardware and software. If I just focus on hardware, we have the industry's best indoor product, our Dot portfolio, which makes it easy to deploy in different networks. We are coming with three different solutions that will make it easier than ever to scale for different needs and be able to monetize. In the new portfolio that is coming, we are bringing high-performing, multi-operator use, to be available for big venues. We are coming up with more … small-factor solutions that are easier for medium- and small-sized enterprises. On top of that, we are [bringing] an industry leading software solution to provide accurate positioning. This is an important asset for enterprises, with sub-one-meter accuracy. It will be available across all of our indoor portfolios, which is quite exciting.
How did Ericsson's 5G RAN create positive impact in 2022? How are you willing to innovate this aspect in 2023 and beyond?
5G is a mobile technology, but we see that it is more than just for making the communication source better. We see that it is an important infrastructure for bringing about a complete paradigm shift in terms of communication and in society in general. If you look at the societal benefits of 5G, we aren't only seeing it as building connectivity to everyone; we also see 5G applications that are going [further], for benefits such as access to healthcare and education in different parts of the world. It's important for digitalization and economic growth, and it's also very important for sustainability.
I’d like to build on “sustainability.” Of course, we want 5G to be used to bring more value to the CSPs — to be able to deploy them, handle the traffic and bring high-performance connectivity and opportunities for monetization — but we also want to do all these things while consuming less power. And this is our responsibility as a company, not only to our kids and our environment, but also to our CSPs … Overall, I think we are seeing that we will be bringing value to CSPs; making a paradigm shift on communication; connectivity for everyone; and having the sustainability targets that we all need to achieve.
Can you explain how the 5G is bringing cost advantages and is helping service providers to handle the data growth needed for future revenue?
I believe the second wave of 5G will be all about monetization. It is about using this beautiful and competent infrastructure that we have created, [which] needs to handle growing traffic demand — 30 to 40% year-over-year. To handle that in a sustainable way, we are coming with a strong portfolio. While we are introducing new 5G sites, we will be able to bring 10 times more capacity, [while] at the same time, reducing more than 30% of energy consumption. We are trying to bring something of an innovation platform while giving more with this. But this platform shouldn't be unused. We need to build features and functionalities on top. We see that the top 20% of 5G customers are already benefiting in terms of revenue growth. In the short term, we see the future of access is extremely hot. It’s bringing big revenue growth in some of the 5G markets, which we believe will scale. We see the early indications of slicing technology and its applications for bringing extra revenue for operators. And we see that in initial examples in some of the first SA networks. I'm convinced that we will see quite a big disruption in enterprises — the scale of deployments [as well as] in the consumer space in terms of the device types: from variables to AR glasses to new types of smartphones. It’s quite an exciting time, and I think we are ready for the next wave.
As a woman working in the ICT sector, what are the values you have gained over the years and how can you encourage other women to explore this field?
I studied Telecommunication Engineering [for my] Bachelor's. There were 100 people in the class and only six girls. It's not a very popular area for girls, but I believe that is changing. I think overall, our industry needs to motivate women to come to this industry. It’s not just a technology that’s for a man. It is very cool and interesting because we are touching the lives of others. In my mind, the first step is really motivating the young girls who are trying to find what to do in their careers and to really motivate [them about] the ICT sector. And this is coming from my position at a global company like Ericsson. I’m proud to be leading such an important product area. And I want this to be an example to the young women out there — that we can have influence and make an impact as women in the ICT sector.
