- Ericsson trials 5G laptops with its own employees
- An Ericsson executive talked about the pros and cons of using 5G laptops
- Ultimately, widespread adoption could provide a new revenue stream for mobile network operators
COMPETITIVE CARRIERS ASSOCIATION (CCA), LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY — At the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) show today, Peter Linder, head of thought leadership with Ericsson Americas, said the Swedish telecom vendor has transitioned all its employees in the U.S., Sweden and Japan off of Wi-Fi and onto 5G for their corporate-owned laptops.
During his presentation at this morning’s opening session, Linder mentioned that he stopped using Wi-Fi on his work laptop about 12 months ago.
Fierce Network caught up with Linder after his speech, and he said Ericsson is using its own offices and employees to trial 5G laptops as a replacement for corporate Wi-Fi. Ericsson has a tailored subscription for the 5G service across about 10,000 company-owned laptops.
“People are concerned about how much traffic it generates,” said Linder. “So traffic-wise, it’s between the smartphone and a fixed wireless connection.”
Ericsson’s motivation for doing this trial arose after Covid, when people returned to the office after having worked from home full-time. Ericsson wanted to manage its laptops so that they were secure everywhere, whether at the office, home or when people were traveling.
“I'm perhaps a little bit extreme in the sense that I never switch on Wi-Fi,” said Linder. “And I do it so I can see where it works. I see how it behaves in different locations. But the 5G coverage is so good right now.”
Ericsson is talking with service providers in different countries to see how the business model might work in their locations. Based on its experience in the three countries where it’s already using 5G laptops, it can provide data about how much employee traffic is generated in the office, at home or on the road. It’s also worked with Microsoft to make it easy to automatically provision the laptops so that it’s not a tedious, manual process.
One objection that people have raised is: having a large number of 5G laptops in one location might cause a lot of stress on the local wireless network. But Linder said, “Well, then we can build a neutral host network inside.”
He said when an Ericsson office was using Wi-Fi, it needed about one Wi-Fi access point for every 15-20 people. Now, it has one cellular radio for about 100 people.
Although cellular radios are more expensive than Wi-Fi access points, the flip side is that Wi-Fi requires a lot of cabling, which is costly, and cellular doesn’t need all that cabling.
The bottom line is that the cost of 5G coverage for laptops is slightly higher than what you would pay for managed Wi-Fi in the office, but with cellular, you also get a secure connection at home and when traveling.
“So here, we're building a case for managed in the office, at home and wherever you go, so that you, as an enterprise IT department, can say, ‘we can finally take control of our laptops and their connectivity wherever they go,'" Linder said.
Corporate 5G laptops could provide new revenue for MNOs
Another big motivation for transitioning from Wi-Fi to cellular-connected laptops in the corporate environment is that it could provide a new revenue stream for mobile network operators (MNOs).
And it could be more convenient for employees.
Linder shared a personal story to illustrate the usefulness of 5G laptops.
A few months ago, he was having the fence replaced at his home, and the fence company cut the broadband connection. Linder and his wife were both working from home. He happened to be on a corporate video call at the time.
His wife came into his office and said, “Well, the fiber is cut.” And he said, “I can’t talk right now, honey. I’m on a Teams call. I've got 5G. My laptop is working perfectly fine.”