This, the telecommunication service provider said, would provide the opportunity for stakeholders in the industry to prepare the platform and the needed technology for the 5G spectrum.

“We have begun creating awareness to prepare the platform for the introduction of the 5G. Though this is an early stage, we believe that preparing the minds of the operators, partners and consumers is just a step in the right direction to accelerate the programme,” the Managing Director of Ericsson Ghana, Mr Roger Aramouni, told the Daily Graphic in an interview in Accra.

The 5G is currently being developed and will hit the market most likely in 2020. Compared with the current fourth generation Long-Term Evolution (4G LTE) technology, 5G is targeting high speed one gigabyte (1 Gbps), low power and low latency, for massive Internet of things (IoT), tactile Internet and robotics.

Customer value

Mr Aramouni observed that Ericsson Ghana was committed to maximising customer value by continuously evolving its business portfolio and leading the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry.

“We are a global leader in delivering ICT solutions. In fact, 40 per cent of the world's mobile traffic is carried over Ericsson networks. We have customers in over 180 countries and comprehensive industry solutions ranging from cloud services and mobile broadband to network design and optimisation,” he said.

“Our services, software and infrastructure - especially in mobility, broadband and the cloud - are enabling the communications industry and other sectors to do better business, increase efficiency, improve user experience and capture new opportunities,” he stated.

“Ericsson has one of the industry's strongest patent portfolios with a total count of over 42,000 granted patents. Research and development is at the heart of our business and we employ approximately 23,700 people globally,” he observed.

Commitment of Ericsson

Mr Aramouni added that the commitment of Ericsson to research and development allowed the company to drive forward its vision for a networked society.

He Ericsson had a long-standing history of working with proactive support services that improve user experience by anticipating and preventing service disturbances, in addition to reactive support services.

“We believe this offering will become an integral part of customer operations on the African continent in the coming years. Ericsson uses innovation to empower people, business and society and thus envisages a networked society that is sustainable, and where everything that can benefit from a connection will have one,” he said.

He said the company’s focus was to build the competence of local people through regular training programmes.