MC Exclusive: Ericsson Global CEO bats for stronger Vodafone Idea, sees long term prospects for the Swedish giant in India

Ekholm said Ericsson is also focused on expanding its R&D footprint in the country.

Ericsson’s global CEO and President, Börje Ekholm, said a financially stronger Vodafone Idea will become a more competitive player in the Indian telecom market. With recent network deals from Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, he sees strong long-term prospects for the Swedish telecom equipment giant.

In an exclusive interview with Moneycontrol, Ekholm emphasised Ericsson’s ambition to be a “domestic champion” in India, actively contributing to the local ecosystem by collaborating with telecom operators, universities, startups, and other stakeholders.

India, home to Ericsson’s largest employee base with over 22,500 staff, is a strategic growth market. Ekholm said Ericsson is also focused on expanding its R&D footprint in the country.

Börje Ekholm- CEO-Ericsson

Here are the edited excerpts: 

Q: In the last quarter, Ericsson secured two new deals with telecom operators, including Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel. After a year of slowed growth, how do you see Ericsson's growth prospects in India now?

A: It's important to remember the unprecedented scale of the 5G rollout in India—probably the fastest scale-up anywhere in the world, which we saw in 2023 and into Q1 2024. That naturally had an impact, and you could see it reflected in the negative numbers for our market area of Southeast Asia, Oceania, and India. This was largely driven by normalisation in India.

Operators in India acquired significant capacity during that buildout, which explains the current market slowdown. That said, I remain very optimistic about the long-term prospects. This is not necessarily because of the two new agreements alone but because demand for wireless connectivity continues to grow. Consumption in India is high and still rising, so I’m quite hopeful.

Will this growth show in Q2 or Q3? That’s a different matter. However, the underlying demand for mobile connectivity in India is strong. For us, India is a market where we aim to be a domestic champion—we want to be part of the Indian ecosystem, working closely with operators and universities, startups, and other stakeholders.

Q: With the recent conversion of dues into equity by the Government of India in Vodafone Idea, how do you view this development as a partner and equity shareholder in the telco?

A: It's hard for me to say how this development will change the organisation—that’s a question for Vodafone Idea. But I do believe that a financially stronger Vodafone Idea, with better equity, will be a better and more competitive company.

Q: How do you view the current structure of the Indian telecom market, especially with the government's equity conversion in Vodafone Idea and support to BSNL for launching 4G and 5G? Will this collectively benefit Ericsson in India?

A: I’ve always believed that a three-player market is more suited to India’s size and scale. If there’s a "three-plus-one" scenario, that could still work. But if you look at global markets, having too many players usually leads to underinvestment in new technology. Take China, for instance; they’re also a large market but have only 2–3 major operators. So yes, I think a sound market structure, ideally with three strong players, is healthier for our industry.

Q: India currently contributes 7% of Ericsson’s global revenue. Can we expect this share to grow this year with the new deals in place?

A: We certainly hope so. Our ambition is to be a significant player in India. It’s already the country where we have the most employees—around 22,500. We’re also aiming to strengthen our presence on the R&D side. So yes, growing in India is strategically very important to us.

Q: How is monetisation being discussed with telecom partners? Is it a key focus area now?

A: That’s the next step. Globally, we’re already seeing some progress—for example, T-Mobile is using network slicing in the US and Singtel in Singapore.

So monetisation, which we’ve long talked about, is finally becoming a reality. I’m optimistic that it will come to India as well. The key to unlocking this potential is standalone 5G. It will take some time for operators worldwide to fully roll that out, but once they do, we’ll see real use cases that can drive monetisation.

So far, 5G has mostly served as a capacity boost for 4G. True monetisation comes when you can offer specific network characteristics—like latency, reliability, and speed—through slicing. That’s when new services can emerge and be monetised effectively.

Q: Are there new revenue opportunities for Ericsson in India beyond 4G and 5G radio networks?

A: Yes, 5G changes the dynamics—it enables many new applications. One example is fixed wireless access (FWA), which is beginning to gain traction in India. It’s possibly the first “killer app” for 5G, and customer response has generally been positive.

We’re also starting to see enterprise applications using 5G to digitise manufacturing. For example, we recently had a win with Jaguar Land Rover in the UK, and since that's affiliated with India, it’s relevant here too.

It’s still early days, but we’re starting to see real use cases. That said, in telecom, you often don’t recognise the “killer app” until after it emerges—because the infrastructure needs to be in place first.

Q: How do you view 6G development? Do you think 2025 is the right time to shift more focus toward 6G, or is there still room to improve 5G? As a top vendor, what’s Ericsson’s strategy?

A: Commercial deployment of 6G is expected around 2030, and standardisation will start next year. We’ve already allocated substantial resources to 6G and are well-positioned to scale those investments.

However, it’s important to remember that we’re still early in the 5G journey. There's a lot to be done in terms of rollout, building networks, and—critically—monetising them. If we don’t solve 5G monetisation, 6G will be even more challenging. That’s why we’re focused on building a strong monetisation framework for 5G right now.

Q: Last year, Ericsson announced joint ventures with a dozen telecom operators, including Reliance Jio and Airtel, to sell network APIs globally. How is that initiative progressing?

A: Globally, we’re already seeing some progress. For example, three US operators recently launched a Fraud API via the joint venture, Aduna. That’s one of the first markets to move, but we’re working on similar progress elsewhere.

With both Jio and Airtel on board, we believe we're in a strong position to drive similar developments in India.

Q: What new developments can we expect in India from this partnership with telecom operators?

A: The key aspect here is the potential to empower the startup ecosystem. Through Aduna, we aim to expose developers, entrepreneurs, and innovators to the capabilities of the 5G network.

Think of network APIs that offer things like location services, fraud detection, speed on demand, or low latency on demand. These tools can fuel innovation and enable new types of applications. That’s the exciting part—it creates a platform for building entirely new services, which will drive an innovation ecosystem in India.