- Fredrik Jejdling, head of Ericsson's Business Area Networks, will step down in March and eventually leave the company
- He will be replaced by Per Narvinger, who currently leads the vendor's Cloud Software and Services unit
- The move comes as wireless vendors are shifting their focus from 5G hardware to artificial intelligence (AI) and the cloud
Long-time Ericsson exec and Business Area Networks chief Fredrik Jejdling is officially stepping down on March 15, with cloud exec Per Narvinger taking his place.
“As we have laid the foundation for the future success of Networks, where we will focus on key software deliveries and on staying a champion in markets like the U.S., India and Japan, I feel that this is a good time to move on to new opportunities,” Jejdling said in a statement.
Jejdling joined Ericsson in 2006 and was named head of Business Area Networks in 2017. He will stay on as an executive advisor until June 30, after which he will depart the company. His replacement Narvinger, who’s been with Ericsson since 1997, has served as head of Cloud Software and Services since 2022.
GlobalData Principal Analyst Ed Gubbins said while he can’t speak on the motivations behind Ericsson’s move, it comes at a time “when mobile operator investment in 5G hardware has ebbed and isn’t expected to dramatically rebound anytime soon.”
“At the same time, the industry is turning its attention increasingly to AI, cloud-native technologies and software over hardware,” he told Fierce.
If that sounds familiar at all, that’s because it is. Nokia, which has laid out plans to chase growth in the cloud market, recently announced Intel data center and artificial intelligence (AI) chief Justin Hotard will be replacing Pekka Lundmark as CEO.
neXt Curve executive analyst Leonard Lee said he was surprised to hear about Jejdling’s departure, but noted Ericsson’s move isn’t necessarily correlated to Nokia’s data center ambitions.
“Ericsson is not making what might be a soft – possibly hard - DC interconnect pivot from their challenged wireless infrastructure business like Nokia is” said Lee. The company meanwhile has remained busy with its push to build out private networks as well as on the cloud front with a new network architecture to help communications service providers (CSPs).
Other Ericsson updates
Ericsson further announced Jenny Lindqvist, who currently runs Ericsson’s Europe and Latin America business, will take over Narvinger’s role as head of cloud software.
The Swedish vendor is also creating two new market areas, one for the Americas headed by Yossi Cohen and one for Europe, Middle East and Africa led by Patrick Johansson. Basically, Ericsson is consolidating three market areas (North America, Europe & Latin America and Middle East & Africa) into two.
“By combining three market areas into two, we see opportunities for efficiencies while maintaining the customer focus,” said President and CEO Börje Ekholm, in a statement.
And speaking of shifting markets, there’s some chatter about Ericsson possibly moving its headquarters to the U.S. in light of the new presidential administration – even though it’s probably not going to happen, analysts told us.