Ericsson unveiled plans for a 5G centre of excellence and an increase in its UK workforce, a move it hailed as a response to increased demand for its products from the country’s four operators.
The vendor noted rollout of its 5G equipment would create 800 jobs in the country by 2022, with 250 of these direct employees. Roles will cover engineering, project management and field operations as it conducts a mass upgrade of existing mobile sites to deliver 5G connectivity.
Alongside the increase in its employees, the company plans to host a 5G Centre of Excellence in one of its existing UK facilities, providing training in the technology to a range of engineers and professionals.
The most recent figures from the company show it had just over 2,500 employees in the UK at end-2019.
Its increased investment in the country follows a number of new deals announced with local operators this year as authorities clamped down, and eventually banned the use of equipment from rival Huawei.
Although effectively pushing operators towards the other two major options of Nokia and Ericsson in the short-term, the UK is actively trying to encourage new players into operator supply chains and plans to help develop an open ecosystem.
