Ericsson’s will invest €1.1 billion in a new R&D center in Korea, according to new CEO Hans Vestberg.
He told Korean President Lee Myung-bak that the company would establish a test bed for LTE technology and increase staff from 80 to 1,000, the Korea Herald reported.
Vestberg said Ericsson expected to spend Euro1.1 billion over the next five years, primarily on LTE and new green technologies.
The Korean government and Ericsson had identified mobile broadband and IT technologies as key enablers for “a green eco-system that will result in more sustainable society,” Ericsson said in a statement.
“As part of this eco-system Ericsson, together with leading Korean companies, will establish a community for the development of sustainable climate solutions based on 4G technologies,” Ericsson added.
LTE is a competitor to mobile Wimax, which is heavily backed by Korean-based Samsung Electronics. Samsung has about 35% of the mobile Wimax network equipment market, Bloomberg said.