Ericsson invests $1.5B on LTE research in South Korea

Ericsson will spend $1.5 billion in South Korea over the next five years on LTE research and development. The announcement from South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's office came after Lee met with Ericsson's incoming CEO Hans Vestberg in Sweden.

The network equipment maker will open a research and development center in South Korea and increase its staff in the country to around 1,000 workers. Currently, Ericsson has about 80 workers in the country. An Ericsson spokesman confirmed that the center will work on LTE technology, according to a Bloomberg report. No further details about the investment deal were mentioned.

Ericsson has been one of the industry's leading proponents of LTE. The company recently signed its first LTE licensing deal. According to ABI Research, 10 operators worldwide will launch LTE networks next year, and 34 million people worldwide are expected to have access to LTE in 2011.

For more:
- see this Bloomberg article [1]
- see this Reuters article [2]

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Ericsson: LTE will be widespread in 2012
[7]