Ericsson Analyst Day, Boston, Mass. – Ericsson's CTO, Erik Ekudden, used his opening remarks at the company's analyst day in Boston today to shed light on the stark differences in the digital infrastructure landscapes across various countries.
"We see a significant divide between countries that are creating favorable conditions for 5G and digital infrastructure investment, and those that are not," Ekudden said. "In some markets, there is a clear lack of investment, poor regulatory frameworks, and an unfavorable return on investment for digital infrastructure projects. On the other hand, we see countries that are pulling ahead, building out nationwide 5G networks, resilient cloud infrastructure, and leveraging AI to drive digital transformation."
Ekudden stopped short of naming nations but the jade elephant in the room in the communications industry is that China is years ahead of Western countries in deploying virtual technologies like AI, automation and cloud to transform everything from transport to manufacturing to energy and more.
Ekudden highlighted the importance of collaboration between industry stakeholders to accelerate the deployment of next-generation digital infrastructure around the world. Ericsson is walking the walk on this front with its dramatic announcement today of a new venture to combine and sell network Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) on a global scale to spur innovation in digital services, which it is undertaking in partnership with a dozen of the world’s largest carriers and CSPs.
He also noted the critical role that the U.S. will play in driving the development of the global 5G and AI markets.
"The U.S. has a unique opportunity to lead the way in the development of the 5G and digital infrastructure market," Ekudden said. "There is a need for continued investment and collaboration to ensure the U.S. remains at the forefront of these critical technologies."
The question is whether the U.S. will take advantage of that opportunity. While it is rightly lauded for developing innovative technology in its academic institutions, and monetizing them in Silicon Valley, the U.S. has no national, government-initiated, taxpayer-funded strategy to digitize its economy and has demonstrated a remarkable level of stupidity with regard to digital infrastructure. That has left it trailing countries like Sweden and China, whose governments are mandating national strategies based on AI, automation and 5G.