TelcoDR all over its cloud assets
Ericsson has announced a major new contract to build a ‘net zero’ smart 5G site. The news comes just as it announced a thinning out of its cloud business. Meanwhile, a potential buyer has emerged for its unwanted cloud assets. This week Ericsson announced that it is cutting certain products and will “exit certain subscale agreements” as part of its effort to help its Cloud Software and Services business unit break-even in 2023. The Cloud Software and Services business unit it set up last year has struggled to even break even, reports, reports Telecom TV and the unprofitable venture has forced the vendor to is shrinking the unit’s portfolio and axe its “subscale agreements”.
Though it’s not yet known which lines will be dropped, public cloud expert Danielle Royston said there should be no shortage of potential buyers of Ericsson’s assets. Royston, the acting CEO of Totogi and self-proclaimed public cloud evangelist at consultancy TelcoDR told US news site Mobile World that one vendor’s ‘sub-scale’ would be another one’s stratosphere. “It’s a relative definition; what’s subscale for Ericsson might be at scale for another organisation with a lower cost to deliver,” said Royston. “[It] fully depends on the cost structure and cost to fulfil the commitments of the contract and the organisation on the hook to deliver.”
Buyers for Ericsson’s cloud assets could include other vendors, such as Amdocs or Netcracker, acquisition companies like TelcoDR subsidiary Skyvera and Constellation Software’s Lumine Group or the many vendors looking to invest in the telco sector. Royston offered her expertise to Ericsson. “I’d love to look at the whole lot of products or contracts they’ve deemed subscale [and give a quick valuation for them] to evaluate. I would be happy to do an asset sale or divestiture and would be interested in taking on some of their people as well.”
Meanwhile, Ericsson has clinched business with China Mobile to launch an energy-efficient 5G smart site that pumps no carbon dioxide into the environment, which is the Chinese province of Jiangsu. China Mobile has used spectrum in the 700MHz band for the site and has implemented Ericsson’s power system, enabling hybrid management of solar, grid and battery energy “to achieve the most energy-efficient operation”, reports Telecom TV.
Ericsson’s smart solution was used for the launch, it said, claiming to deliver “new levels of quality assurance, intelligent administration of various energy sources, full-stack real-time monitoring, plus intelligent energy and service synergy”. The two companies will also launch an energy-efficient site providing services in the 2.6GHz band in Guangdong.