Ericsson President and CEO Börje Ekholm (right) speaks at the Technology Policy Institute Forum in Aspen, Colorado, on August 19, 2025. He’s flanked by moderator Bryan Tramont, managing partner, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP.
Recognizing that China has a big lead on 5G standalone (SA) deployments and 6G is on the horizon, Ericsson Group President and CEO Börje Ekholm said it’s critical that western nations, including the US, step up their network deployments.
Many mobile operators have failed to monetize 5G so far, he said, in part because they can’t yet take full advantage of the platform to support apps and services that are optimized for super low-latencies, higher uplink prioritization and network slicing. They’ll need 5G SA to achieve that, Ekholm said Tuesday at the Technology Policy Institute Forum in Aspen, Colorado.
“It’s hard to monetize something you don’t have,” Ekholm said. “The network has to be built for 5G SA.”
Ekholm’s comments today echo those of Magnus Ewerbring, Ericsson’s chief technology officer – Asia Pacific, who also pointed to 5G SA as an avenue for operators to monetize and differentiate their 5G networks.
In the US, T-Mobile has been pushing ahead with 5G SA, as was EchoStar, the troubled operator that’s in the process of building out its national 5G network. EchoStar’s buildout is currently on pause due to uncertainties that have arisen from the FCC’s ongoing investigation into EchoStar’s federal 5G obligations and spectrum license rights.
