Ericsson has announced raising $370 million funding for 5G and other investment.
The struggling Sweden vendor signed agreements for credit facilities with the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) for $220 million, maturing in 2023, and AB Svensk Exportkredit (SEK) for $150 million, maturing in 2025. Of the amount named, $98 million will replace credit from NIB that was due to mature in 2019, Ericsson said in a statement.
The funds will be used to support research and development (R&D) activities for 5G and other mobile technologies like IoT. In addition to R&D, the new funds will also strengthen the company’s balance sheet and financial flexibility, Ericsson said.
Ericsson CTO Erik Ekudden said the company is increasing its investments in 5G, IoT, and digital services as part of its focused strategy.
“Already now, the company is working with 38 operators worldwide on developing and preparing for 5G networks,” Ekudden said. “This is more than any other company.
“In the coming years, we will see 5G networks going live around the world, with major deployments from 2020 and we believe that there will be one billion 5G subscriptions by the end of 2023. The technologies that we are investing in are fundamentally changing the way we innovate, collaborate, produce, live and do business.”
The news comes days after the 3GPP completed the first 5G New Radio (NR) specification which paved the way for full-scale development of the 5G mobile technology.