There is need for over 400 MHz of spectrum for broadband, says Ericsson official

Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson is on an expansion mode in India with plans to ramp up manufacturing in the country. However, the company, which has its largest employee base in India, is betting on the growth of mobile services, especially data services.

According to Ulf Pehrsson, Head of Government and Industry Relations at Ericsson, the biggest concern is the availability of spectrum. Leveraging over 25 years of experience in government and telecommunication, Pehrsson is the architect of the company’s strategic focus on developing strong ties to governments and regulators.

BusinessLine met Pehrsson during his recent visit to India to discuss issues facing telecom sector. Edited excerpts.

What is the single biggest concern for the telecom industry worldwide?

We are at a crucial point in identifying lot more spectrum for mobile broadband. This is being discussed at the ITU. There is need for 400 MHz to 1000 MHz for broadband. We see number of subscriptions going up; so the more users have more advanced devices the more will be the need for bandwidth. Data usage is expected to increase by 4 to 5 times for which we need much more spectrum. The other issue is about the importance of freedom of cross border data flow. Data need to flow freely.

As communication because critical to societies, nations are looking at some ways to impose trade barriers as protection. How do you see this in the context of the recent events related to anti-dumping initiated by the European Commission against China?

We have been extremely clear from the beginning that Ericsson is opposed to any trade barriers. This was an initiative by European Commission which did not have support from the industry. Because it leads to retaliation. Ericsson and world benefits from free trade.

What about security issues?

That separate and national security is up to each government. We have no arguments against that. But when it comes to manufacturing we have been manufacturing in India and we are ready to expand here.

At the same time, more barriers to exports or imports will not stimulate more investment. The government here is actively working on improving the investment climate which is a much better approach to improve manufacturing ecosystem of subcontractors.

How important are privacy issues when it comes to building trust with users?

We are in favour data protection but we are sceptical when these rules are taken for stringent localisation requirements. Data regarding processes, employees needs to flow across borders. That is possible while fully respective data protection rules. In the end, if the industry has to grow end user must be able to trust. And its only trust that will bring more investments and more services .

What is your position on internet governance?

We strongly support multi-stakeholder approach. It’s natural that governments around the world as a result of the success of these networks in becoming critical infrastructure, whole society is depending on this infrastructure so it’s natural that Government are asking questions on how it should be governed. But we are in favour of multi-stakeholder. We don’t see benefits of bringing it under bodies such as the ITU for example.

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