At Mobile World Congress 2025, Ericsson is redefining enterprise innovation with AI, automation, and 5G. Åsa Tamsons, Senior VP and Head of Enterprise Wireless Solutions, highlights real-world applications, including a groundbreaking partnership with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), in this interview with Fierce Network’s Stephen Saunders, MBE.
By integrating 5G, AI, and real-time data insights, JLR is accelerating manufacturing efficiency—cutting copper cables and reducing factory changeover times from months to minutes. But it’s not just about 5G; it’s about solving real business problems with intelligent automation and seamless connectivity. With key partners like Zebra, Fujitsu, and Litmus, Ericsson is turning technological potential into real-world transformation.
As enterprises shift from testing to scaling, the next wave of digital transformation is here. Don’t miss Ericsson’s latest demos and industry-shaping innovations at MWC 2025!
Stephen M. Saunders MBE:
So Åsa, what's the big focus for Ericsson at Mobile World Congress?
Åsa Tamsons:
It's all about showing real case examples of how enterprises are using the latest when it comes to AI-powered applications, automations, VR and AR to enhance their business, drive innovation, drive increased collaborations. So you will see a lot of exciting demos, but you'll see a lot of our partnerships. That without those, we wouldn't be able to move what's possible into reality.
Stephen M. Saunders MBE:
So it's all about the ecosystem, but can you give us an example of a customer where your 5G technology has made a real difference?
Åsa Tamsons:
So right now, I think we're at a very exciting moment where we see more and more companies going from testing with a technology like 5G, AI, to actually starting to scale it out. At MWC this year, we're going to show our partnership with JLR, Jaguar Land Rover, and how they actually applying 5G to enable the scaling of machine learning AI applications. But frankly, also, machine collaboration. Getting the real-time data insights at the time when it matters at the shop floor in their day-to-day manufacturing of cars.
And that is not only about 5G, right? 5G is just the connectivity foundation that enables their transformation. But we have partners such as Zebra, we have the social system. Fujitsu has been the integration partner to really make this happen end to end. We had Litmus, their data platform that's been fundamental in this transformation, and we're just making sure it can be connected in a secure, reliable fashion. I think it's a great example where we see how these partnerships come together to really enable a massive transformation for JLR. They're cutting copper. So talking about cutting the copper, replacing that so they can make changes in the factory. Before, it took months. Now, they can do it in not only weeks, but in minutes. It's sometimes seconds.
Stephen M. Saunders MBE:
It's a huge business opportunity, isn't it?
Åsa Tamsons:
It's a huge opportunity and that's the one, frankly, we've been betting the farm on for quite a few years. In fact, even since we started designing the technology of 5G. But I think the way to think about it is the transformation is here to tackle business problems. So if you take that as an example and making that possible, it's not about 5G. It's about what you can solve, what problems you can solve with better intelligence real-time, automation where it's adding value. And that's, I think, the cusp of development that we now start to see. We still have most of the companies are on the starting part of this journey. They're not through it yet, but we start to see example or example where companies making progress and actually start to get to that maturity level where they can reap those benefits.
Stephen M. Saunders MBE:
But do you think people have grasped just how big this business transformation is going to be?
Åsa Tamsons:
Well, I think we're a few... At least in our company and, otherwise, we would've made these investments which may look big at the moment. But I think if you look in the context of the opportunity, and I think what is hard is more to say, when will you have that tipping point where you go from high growth to actually real scale, right? I think to your point, the exciting thing, we still have that ahead of us and I'm convinced that will happen, because of all the examples we start to see now from the playground to real scale in an operational setting. And to your point, we still have the big, exciting opportunity of scaling it from operations across scale in a company to cross-scales in an industry across nations.
Stephen M. Saunders MBE:
Ericsson seems to be really on a roll at the moment. I'm excited to see what you're going to demo at MWC. Also, it's always a pleasure.
Åsa Tamsons:
Looking forward to it. See you there.