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For just over a year, Börje Ekholm was publicly embarrassed. By then, his Ericsson had agreed to pay $ 10 billion in fines to the United States government for bribery and accounting offenses over many years and in many countries. A public nose, which also means that you have a top-notch German lawyer as a business ethics supervisor for three years.
But commercially, the past year has been very good. After three years of cleaning, Börje Ekholm has been able to become more offensive. The company has made billions in acquisitions and, above all, has received a number of large orders for new mobile broadband technology.
Especially in China. There is by far the largest and most expansive market for 5G. There is also the company’s worst competitor, Huawei, which in more and more countries has been affected by suspicions of espionage.
DN has asked Börje Ekholm in several interviews if the suspicion against Huawei has benefited Ericsson. The answer has been no, stating instead that the company has taken market shares from “non-Chinese” competitors. Ericsson has been to the victory hole, as they say in trotting contexts.
But on October 20, the Swedish Post and Telecommunications Agency (PTS) announced that Huawei would not be allowed to deliver equipment to Swedish 5G networks, referring to the Swedish Armed Forces and Säpo. It was a decision that surprised the entire Swedish telecommunications industry: no one had received such signals during the security review that took place during the year.
The next day, Börje Ekholm, who has worked with China for decades and sits on the board of e-commerce giant Alibaba, told DN that he did not want to comment on politics and national security.
But she obviously had opinions, and she spoke directly to Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Hallberg, just as she speaks to governments around the world. Of course, telecommunications is also political and requires a network at the highest level. The idea was, of course, that this, as usual, would take place under the radar; now DN reporters could use the open principle and get the SMS conversation going.
Shows a clearly depressed and angry CEO, which asks the Swedish government for help and questions the responsible authority. He seems to think that the Swedish national treasure on which it is based has been exposed to what the military calls “friendly fire”, to be bombed by its own forces. So the strategy will be to help your worst opponent, not primarily so that Huawei can succeed in Sweden, but so that Ericsson can continue its success in China.
Sweden is a pioneer in mobile telephony, we have been at the forefront when it comes to 3G and 4G, but we have lagged behind with 5G, which is seen as crucial to building the smart business community of the future. Now there is a new date for the 5G auction, but at the same time, the problem ended in court and Swedish operators are complaining about unclear conditions for their next billion dollar investments.
The PTS decision has already been written in Swedish telecommunications history, but we still don’t know where the problem will ultimately go. And we still don’t know what really happened last fall, when the conditions for the Swedish release were changed in a way that none of their players were wide. The answer, of course, is somewhere: behind the scenes.
Read more:
SMS Reveals: Ericsson CEO Pressured Government To Save Huawei
Jacob Wallenberg: “Stopping Huawei is definitely not good”
