Ericsson CEO: Mobile Broadband Is The New Media Channel

STOCKHOLM -(Dow Jones)- At CommunicAsia 2005 in Singapore, Telefon AB L.M Ericsson's (ERICY) President and Chief Executive Carl-Henric Svanberg said Wednesday that mobile broadband is paving the way for new services, with content and media playing a very important role.

"There is a new media channel emerging to millions of consumers. Both music and television are entering handsets as the technical capability for this is developing rapidly," said Svanberg.

Addressing the main challenges and opportunities for operators in the region, Svanberg referred to new mobile services such as mobile music and TV as the main drivers of mobile broadband, demanding a high bit rate capacity.

Ericsson's CEO talked about Asian advanced markets, where penetration rates are as high as 90% and consumers are using the most advanced services. In these markets the main challenge is to further create and develop differentiated service offerings and content for third generation, with innovative models such as Ericsson's music hosting, Svanberg said.

He also said there's no other market with the potential of the Asian region, which has a broad variety of market conditions, from newly emerging to advanced markets.

Also during CommunicAsia 2005, Jan Signell, President of Ericsson South East Asia, referred to the region as a "unique combination of emerging, expanding and advanced markets" and said that Ericsson's global experience and long-term commitment to the region gives the company a strong position to meet current operator challenges in all three market scenarios.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires "

Posted to the site on 15th June 2005