Ericsson's New Solutions To Bridge Global Digital Divide

In a bid to expand mobile broadband coverage, Swedish communication technology and services giant, Ericsson (ST:ERICAs) (NASDAQ:ERIC) launched a fresh set of solutions that will enable more people to access mobile broadband connectivity.

The new solutions include software and hardware additions to the Ericsson Radio System, which will help it to reduce the total cost of ownership by up to 40%. This will make investments in low-ARPU (average revenue per user) markets viable, when Ericsson rolls out its complete site solution for mobile broadband.

In fact, operators can now leverage a new set of tools to identify sites with the maximum number of users, in a coverage area, with Internet-ready devices. This will aid them to determine whether they should convert those sites first to HSPA or 4G/LTE in order to allow the benefits of mobile broadband to reach the maximum number of people.

The Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development has strongly backed the role of the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) in laying the groundwork to accomplish UN Sustainable Development Goals. Its new report indicated a shift in the digital divide from basic telephony to internet. In fact, the Commission estimates that it would cost a whopping $450 billion to take the next 1.5 billion people online.

Ericsson is in support of the International Telecommunication Union’s Connect 2020 goal of ensuring that over half of the people in the developing world are using the internet by 2020. Hence, in order to spur mobile broadband adoption in these developing markets, Ericsson is striving to make sure that operators are able to create viable business with every investment, even in rural or off-grid settings.

Ericsson’s new suite of solutions will prove to be important assets as operators around the world extend mobile broadband coverage.

The company’s technology has been enabling telecom players to adapt to the rapidly changing media landscape, as they contend with an increasingly complex industry.

Ericsson presently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the same space include Ubiquiti Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:UBNT) , QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) and Clearfield, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLFD) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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