Ericsson, Oppo to open 5G innovation lab in China

Stockholm, Sweden-based mobile telecom equipment maker Ericsson has joined hands with Chinese handset maker Oppo to establish a joint lab in Shenzhen, China to focus on 5G innovation.

The companies will combine their 5G expertise to help accelerate large-scale global deployment of 5G, Ericsson said in a statement.

“This partnership is of high strategic importance for both Ericsson and Oppo. It will contribute to the diversity of the 5G ecosystem and benefit from the agility of both companies to bring new use cases and customer value to the market,” said Luca Orsini, vice president and head of networks, North East Asia, Ericsson.

Founded in 1876 by Lars Magnus Ericsson, Ericsson is a technology company that provides and operates telecommunications networks, television and video systems, and related services. 

Earlier this year, Ericsson and Oppo had signed a global patent agreement.

Since the third quarter of 2018, the companies have been running joint 5G tests on Oppo’s 5G handset and Ericsson’s 5G infrastructure with local operator partners in Sweden, Germany and China. This is part of an effort to accelerate the commercial availability of 5G products, the statement added.

Ericsson claims to have more than 70 commercial 5G agreements with unique communication service providers, of which 22 are live networks.

“The initiative leverages Ericsson’s advantages in 5G network and infrastructure technologies and its global operator channels with OPPO’s experience and expertise in 5G standards development, technologies, products and application scenarios,” said Andy Wu, president, software engineering dept., Oppo.

Oppo, founded in 2010 by Tony Chen, is a Chinese consumer electronics and mobile communications company. It is known for developing smartphones, Blu-ray players and other electronic devices.

In the past, Oppo and Ericsson have worked together with Switzerland-based telecommunications company Swisscom and California, US-based semiconductor company Qualcomm to become the first in Europe to launch commercial 5G.

Last month, telecommunications networking equipment major Nokia and IT services company Wipro joined hands to develop 5G use cases for accelerating technology adoption.

The next wave of technology growth, from autonomous vehicles to the internet of things powered homes, is relying on commercial 5G technology to take off. The Chinese company, Huawei, another player in the 5G war, is facing a trade blacklist in the US. This has left Ericsson and Finland-based Nokia as the front runners in the 5G technology space.