Ericsson To Invest SEK 7 Bln In 5 Yrs To Build Three Global ICT Centers - Update

(RTTNews) - Swedish telecommunications equipments maker Ericsson (ERIC) Monday said it plans to invest about 7 billion Swedish kronor ($1.06 billion) in the next five years to build three global ICT Centers.

Two of these centers will be located in Sweden - in Stockholm and Linköping - while the third one will be located in Montreal, Quebec.

The centers will be located close to Ericsson's main R&D hubs and will be the new platform for over 24,000 Ericsson R&D engineers globally. Ericsson said team of experts would be able to collaborate beyond borders more easily and efficiently.

Ericsson's customers will also be able to connect remotely for interoperability testing and trials.

The three ICT Centers combined will be up to 120,000 square meters, about the size of 14 football fields.

The new centers will house the company's complete portfolio, enabling the R&D organization to develop and verify solutions.

Hans Vestberg, CEO of Ericsson, said: "The new ICT Centers are examples of Ericsson's passion for driving the development of the industry. Great ideas come from collaboration, and at these centers we will push the boundaries of possibility on next generation technology and services."

The centers will be built in a modular and scalable way, securing an efficient use of resources and space adaptable to business needs. The combination of architecture, design and locations is expected to reduce energy consumption up to 40 percent.

The two ICT Centers in Sweden will begin initial operations from end of 2013 and from end of 2014, respectively. The North American ICT Center will begin functioning from early 2015.

With regard to use of equipment and energy savings, the new hardware design building in Stockholm will provide similar benefits as the global ICT Centers. It will enable R&D hardware design activities in Stockholm to consolidate into one modern creative environment.

Ericsson has its biggest R&D hub located in Sweden with over 9,000 employees. Other bigger R&D sites are in China, US, Canada and Hungary.

In 2012, Ericsson's R&D expenditures were 32.8 billion kronor, reflecting around 14 percent of sales.