Ericsson is reportedly expanding its component manufacturing ecosystem and reinforcing supply chains across Asia, Europe and the US to navigate ongoing geopolitical uncertainty. A senior executive said building strong regional capabilities, including in markets such as India, is a priority as global tariff-related challenges continue to evolve.
He added that India is expected to remain one of the world’s leading 5G markets, driven by rapidly rising data consumption, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered services and new device form factors that are transforming how telecom networks are designed and operated.
India’s already high levels of data usage are projected to climb further, he said.
He said the most significant disruption facing telecom networks is the emergence of AI-driven services, which are changing not only traffic volumes but the nature of network demand itself. New applications, ranging from AI chatbots to wearables such as smart glasses and connected earpods, are expected to generate continuous, interactive traffic rather than traditional one-way data consumption.
Describing future networks as an “intelligent fabric”, he said they will need to recognise and prioritise different AI-driven traffic flows. AI-native networks will require much higher uplink capacity, ultra-low latency and real-time responsiveness, areas where traditional network architectures fall short.
Further, he added that this shift presents a major commercial opportunity for Ericsson across hardware, software and AI-driven network solutions.
Furthermore, on the growing interest in satellite communications, the executive said satellite connectivity should be seen as a complement to terrestrial telecom networks rather than a replacement.
