Ericsson Completes Acquisition Of Vonage

The acquisition of Vonage Holdings Corporation, by Ericsson will help to support the company’s strategy to leverage technology leadership to grow its mobile network business and expand into enterprise, the president and CEO, Ericsson Börje Ekholm has said.

Ekholm, in a press statement, made available to LEADERSHIP, said the acquisition provides Ericsson with access to powerful building blocks to offer a full suite of communications solutions including, Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS).

“By leveraging the Vonage CPaaS offering, Ericsson aims to transform the way advanced 5G network capabilities are exposed, consumed and paid for. This will provide the global developer community, including Vonage’s more than one million registered developers, with easy access to 4G and 5G network capabilities via open Application Program Interfaces (APIs),” he added.

For communications service providers (CSPs), global network APIs such as location and quality of service APIs, provide new opportunities to expand their profit pools to monetise 5G network capabilities.

For Ericsson, global APIs provide a new material growth opportunity. The existing market for communications APIs, such as video, voice and SMS, is currently growing at 30 per cent annually and projected to reach $22 billion by 2025.

Ekholm said: “We are excited to welcome Vonage as part of Ericsson. With Vonage’s suite of communications solutions and Communications APIs, Ericsson will further expand its offerings into the enterprise space.

“In the future, network capabilities will be consumed and paid for through open network APIs, creating the opportunity for unparalleled innovation. We have already launched the first network API, Dynamic End-user Boost, based on existing 4G infrastructure.”

With Vonage, the president said Ericsson will now develop and commercialize these new APIs, adding that, “We are already seeing great progress with frontrunner CSPs, and we aim to launch the first 5G network APIs in the coming year. We will continue to create new, enhanced applications and services for enterprises, while driving continued innovation on Vonage’s UCaaS and CCaaS applications, helping businesses create new digital experiences for better communications, connections and engagement. By linking the network world with the global developer community, we’re creating a paradigm shift that will put the network at the center, allowing the CSPs a new monetization opportunity supporting increasing investments in high-performance networks.”

Vonage CEO, Rory Read, said: “Vonage was born out of innovation and is today a global leader in business cloud communications. This partnership will strengthen our offerings to businesses across the globe by leveraging Ericsson’s leadership in 5G, global market presence and strong R&D capabilities. With the demand for Communications APIs growing rapidly, the combined expertise, talent and innovation is good news for our customers and partners.”