Ericsson Regional Connect | Issue 6 – Fall/Winter 2022

Featured articles

Why network intelligence is vital in addressing RAN threats

Highlights from the June 2022 Ericsson Mobility Report

Bridging the digital divide: Extended millimeter-wave 5G Fixed Wireless Access

Ericsson’s purpose and vision imagine the possibilities of limitless connectivity

The future is looking better and brighter than ever, and our purpose and vision reflect the emerging opportunities we’re poised to take on. Check out this video to see how we’re continuing to make the unimaginable possible with support from our valued partners.

Customers and partners, Welcome to the fall 2022 issue of “Regional Connect Magazine!” I have enjoyed meeting many of you in person after so much time in a virtual setting.

Thank you for your partnership as I settled into my new role. It has been interesting to hear about the challenges you face and the successes you celebrate in providing connectivity to rural areas. It’s an exciting time for regional carriers as we build on the momentum of 5G. I hope you enjoy this issue of Regional Connect Magazine, which includes the following highlights and more.

Connect

Get a glimpse of Ericsson’s strong presence at the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) Mobile Carriers Show (MCS)—our first live, in-person event since 2019. We welcomed more than 70 customers throughout the two-day conference, where we showcased a range of interactive demos in our booth and participated in several thought leadership panel discussions.

Share

Learn about new capabilities in both Ericsson Security Manager and Ericsson basebands, which are improving our customers’ security posture by better protecting the network and detecting RAN-specific threats—specifically, false base stations.

Serve

From providing North Carolina students with vital school supplies, to ensuring that event staff and emergency teams stayed connected at The World Games in Alabama, see how two of our regional carrier partners are making a real difference in the communities they serve.

Eric Boudriau Head of Customer Unit Regional Carriers, Ericsson North America

Connect

Meet the experts

In this issue of “Regional Connect Magazine,” we sat down with two of Ericsson’s sales leaders: Chuck Hamby and Anand Akundi, both of whom are Vice Presidents, Regional Carriers Wireless Sales. Both are 25-year veterans in the telecom industry and share a genuine passion for the technology and customer service that go along with it.

What do you enjoy about working with rural carriers?

Chuck:

The pleasure I get in working with these regional carriers is that they’re small companies established in rural America trying to serve the betterment of the communities that they operate and live in. And for me, that’s extremely rewarding. I think we have a bigger purpose in serving these rural communities and bridging the digital divide.

Anand:

This is the first time in my career of 25 years that I’m doing something in which I can see immediate returns. My customers are out there trying to get the unconnected connected. And they are actually from these regions—they’re not there just to make money, they’re there because they feel deeply about the constituents that they serve. And that rubs off on you and makes you ask, “What is it that I can do to help them in their mission and ensure that people in rural America have the same opportunities and connectivity options that everybody else has in the major cities?”

To hear more from Chuck and Anand, including Chuck’s love of yard work and Anand’s international upbringing, watch the video.

CCA Mobile Carrier Show

April 2022 | Tampa, Florida

Sharing thought leadership and talking tech trends

The Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) Mobile Carriers Show (MCS) was back in person this past April in Tampa, Florida. As the only North American event to focus exclusively on smart strategies, technology innovations and business opportunities for mobile carriers, MCS brings together more senior decision makers from more carrier organizations than any other tradeshow in the United States.

Ericsson had a strong presence at the two-day conference, welcoming more than 70 customers to our meeting room, showcasing a range of interactive demos in our booth and participating in several thought leadership panel discussions. Here are the highlights.

Featured sessions Featured demos

5G Standalone Core

We provided visitors with an overview of our multi-access, highperformance and cost-effective core platform for 5G, including how it delivers enhanced user experiences, improved network capabilities and more.

4G/5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA)

Participants learned how FWA is an efficient and scalable alternative to wired connections—and an investment that typically pays off in less than two years.

Ericsson Radio Suite, including the latest Street Radio

We revealed our newest radios, designed to turn a streetlight into a low- or mid-band 5G site in 15 minutes, boosting 4G and 5G experience with zero footprint.

Ericsson Operations Engine

Visitors saw how the Ericsson Operations Engine combines advanced components and capabilities into one powerful solution, enabling service providers to enhance customer experience, drive efficiency and pave the way for innovation.

Ericsson Private 5G

We outlined a few of the limitless possibilities for transforming industries through private networks, demonstrating how they can provide the robust, reliable connectivity required to suit any need and use case, both today and tomorrow.

Assembling the Ideal Broadband Toolbox for Rural America

Ericsson’s Head of Customer Unit Regional Carriers, Eric Boudriau, joined fellow panelists to share his thoughts and insights on network equipment solutions and partnerships that are available today for smaller carriers to help bring much needed and desired mobile broadband connectivity to rural America.

Assessing IoT Readiness for MNOs

This session, featuring Brenda Connor, Ericsson’s Principal Solutions Consultant of Mission Critical Systems, focused on key components of an IoT deployment for rural customers, and how they can build/upgrade their network to generate steady revenue across different IoT use cases across industries like public safety, transportation, health, smart city and energy.

The Impact of Cloud-Native Technologies

Ericsson’s CIO of Customer Unit Regional Carriers

Surya Bommakanti joined this session to explore key cloudnative technologies and architecture, discuss their impact and challenges and review the progress that is being made throughout the wireless industry.

Preparing for Inevitable Cyberattacks

Along with other industry thought leaders, Gagan Shori, Ericsson’s Security Director of Customer Unit Regional Carriers, covered several strategies for reducing the ever-evolving and often overwhelming risk of cyberattacks and security breaches.

Delivering unrivaled customer service in rural Kansas

Nex-Tech Wireless serves 44 counties in Central and Northwest Kansas. For more than 15 years, the company’s mission has been to bring trusted technology and superior service to their communities. We sat down with Jon Lightle, President and CEO, to learn more about what makes Nex-Tech Wireless special.

Q: When did your business begin?

A: Nex-Tech Wireless was formed in 2004, when Rural Telephone and Golden Belt Telephone joined together to bring a local wireless carrier back to Kansas. Our owners had previously been a part of Kansas Cellular before it was acquired by Alltel. We began to offer service to customers in 2005, with a core belief that Kansans deserve great coverage everywhere. We erected hundreds of towers and formed the necessary partnerships to provide nationwide coverage to ensure Kansans who live in rural areas get the same great, reliable coverage as those in metropolitan areas. In 2014, Tri-County Telephone joined this ownership group.

Q: What are your company’s core values?

A: We have five core values: We have integrity, we are customer-driven, we partner with and are involved in our communities, we practice respect and empowerment while utilizing a fun team environment, and we pursue awareness and innovation in all aspects of our business.

We serve a lot of small-town, rural American communities driven by the agriculture and oil and gas industries. There’s a whole different level of community involvement here—it’s all about building relationships. Even from a working perspective, everybody does everything. We roll up our sleeves and do every job in the company because we’re proud to go above and beyond for our neighbors.

Personally, I jumped at the chance to return to my traditional roots and manage a small regional carrier that shares the values I grew up with.

Q: How do those values help you serve your community?

A: We’ve enjoyed long-standing partnerships with a number of local organizations, from non-profits to t-ball teams, and from internships to scholarships. We’re proud to partner with the Hays Medical Center Foundation, Fort Hays State University, Emporia State University, Kansas Shrine Bowl and the Kansas State Fair, just to name a few.

Investing in our communities isn’t just about time or money spent, it’s also about working to support our way

of life and committing to our future. We believe there’s no place like home, so why leave? Kansas has some of the brightest and hardest working residents, and we want to keep them here by offering jobs and bringing the latest technology to our friends and neighbors.

Q: What’s something unique about your company that most people probably don’t know?

A: I would say one of the unique things about Nex-Tech Wireless is our commitment to customer service. We really know our customers, and we don’t outsource anything. Customers can come into our retail locations; they can call our customer care center; and it might be your neighbor or your friend. It might be the person you’re sitting next to in church.

Q: How did your company’s partnership with Ericsson began?

A: We started our partnership with Ericsson with our LTE core back in 2012. When we decided to get into 5G, we set out to find the best partner. We thought that Ericsson had the best portfolio of products and services that would take us into that 5G world

and beyond, so we’ve continued that relationship with this next generation of technology.

Q: What are you most excited about with 5G?

A: We obviously love the speed and the low latency that it brings. But we’re also excited about the long-term opportunities to increase our revenues and bring new products and services to meet our customers’ needs. Our customers are utilizing 5G in amazing ways. Precision agriculture is becoming more prevalent and needs that highspeed data with low latency. Access to healthcare, specifically specialists, can be a challenge for many rural Kansas residents, but with the advancements in telehealth and 5G, that has become a readily accessible resource for our customers.

Q: What does the future look like for Nex-Tech Wireless?

A: We believe the future is bright for NexTech Wireless. We have the ability, we have the customer growth, we have the partner backing, and we’ve been able to keep up with the latest and greatest technologies here in rural Kansas.

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Why network intelligence is vital in addressing RAN threats

Telecommunication networks are an obvious target for high-impact attacks. In the Radio Access Network (RAN) domain, which is the most physically accessible part of mobile networks, the limited awareness of the scale and sophistication of the false base station (FBS) threat makes it attractive to malicious actors. Learn how Ericsson is using network intelligence to address RAN threats.

An FBS can perform active or passive attacks against mobile devices or user equipment to steal private information through techniques such as eavesdropping, tracking, identity spoofing, data and traffic modification or denial-of-service (DoS) invasions.

Manual threat detection is resourceintensive and prone to human errors and false positives. But without adequate detection capabilities, these threats will remain unknown to service providers.

Ericsson Security Manager (ESM) addresses the needs of next-generation security operations by making security visible and automating security processes.

Key benefits of ESM

• Protection: Baseline Automation functionality provides repeatable processes for systematic selection of technical security and privacy policies and controls.

• Detection: ESM provides a detection engine that supports telco-specific detection logics, addressing RAN domain, telco cloud-native threats and operational and management (O&M) activities-related threats.

• Certificate automation: Ericsson

Certificate Automation reduces time to market and lowers lifecycle management costs due to a preintegrated solution with 5G cloudnative network functions (CNFs) and other network nodes.

Announcing new capabilities in network intelligence

Ericsson is launching new capabilities in both ESM and Ericsson basebands (RBS

components) to improve our customers’ security posture even further. In addition to existing features, these capabilities make it possible to reduce risks by better protecting the network and detecting RAN-specific threats.

The two new capabilities are:

• In baseband products, we are adding the Advanced RAN Defense software, which provides the new security-related capabilities that enable ESM to detect FBS-specific attacks.

• In ESM, we are adding the RAN Detection Logic software, which supports the detection of false base stations.

These two features, working with the Ericsson Network Management (ENM) system, collectively comprise the Ericsson RAN Security Threat Detection solution.

How it works

Ericsson RAN Security Threat Detection is built on common data flows, or measurement reports, between the user equipment (UE)—typically mobile phones—and base stations in the service provider’s network. Since we know the network topology around a specific UE, we know what these measurement reports should look like. We then use smart algorithms in the ESM software to find any discrepancies between the topology ENM knows to be correct and the topology information reported by the UEs. Any incremental differences indicate the possible presence of FBSs.

How it’s implemented

First, security operations personnel work with network operations personnel to

decide where and when to activate the detection solution and which frequencies to monitor. Threat detection is typically deployed in sensitive areas such as military installations, near police stations and in political neighborhoods. The solution can also be deployed for the entire network.

The challenging cybersecurity environment

There are more than 24 trillion threat signals daily. (Microsoft)

Ransomware-related data leaks increased by 82% in 2021. (Crowdstrike)

48% of organizations do not have an efficient incident response plan in place. (Crowdstrike)

Read the blog post to learn more about:

• The main challenges with detecting FBSs

• How FBS detection works

• The benefits of FBS threat detection, including:

– No need for additional hardware

– Lower OPEX through automated detection with precise alerts

– Brand and customer protection

UScellular and Ericsson lead the way in bridging the digital divide

The “digital divide” refers to the gap between demographics and regions that have access to modern information and communication technology, and those that have restricted access or no access at all. In 2022, it was estimated that between 23 and 25 million Americans are either unserved or underserved with broadband internet1, illustrating that there is still some way to go to ensure as much of the population as possible can fully access the internet and associated services.

In addition to addressing US residents’ right to access high-speed internet, innovative fixed wireless access (FWA) services address a previously underserved gap in the market left by the lack of options for consumers living outside the main urban areas. UScellular is working together with Ericsson to close the digital divide, connecting people and communities to high-speed broadband by providing a world-first commercial offering of 5G mmWave extended-range FWA services. One of the defining capabilities of 5G is that it was designed to be a future-proofed technology to deliver broadband services in a cost-efficient way, and it has now reached the point where it is allowing mobile technology to fully intersect with the demands— and price points—of fixed line services. The cost, time and complexity of delivering fixed broadband has historically been one of the main challenges to the rollout of high-speed data services.

Previous initiatives have often been unsuccessful, mainly due to the outlay cost involved with new infrastructure and equipment. In contrast to this, the extended-range 5G FWA solution proposed by Ericsson leveraged existing assets such as macro sites and radio towers, using common components to deliver high-speed broadband services to UScellular’s previously underserved consumer and enterprise markets. With a massive capacity and quick deployment time when compared to other wireline options, 5G FWA is an affordable, accessible and future-proof solution to expanding broadband services and helping to bridge the digital divide.

1 https://www.costquest.com/resources/articles/broadband-world-news-interviews-cqa-about-the-new-nationalbroadband-map/

“Closing the digital divide in America is a top priority for us … we think it’s the right thing to do to make sure everyone in the country has access to high-speed internet services.”

Mike Irizarry, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, UScellular

Pushing the boundaries

FWA enables service providers to deliver high-speed, low-latency broadband services to suburban and rural consumers in areas where the cost of installing and maintaining fiber connections has previously been prohibitive. Using New Radio (NR) in mmWave, 5G FWA provides a scalable, competitive alternative, providing the bandwidth required to support highspeed internet access for a wide range of use cases, such as high-definition streaming, gaming, and augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR).

With the innovative mmWave extended range functionality, coverage is significantly extended—pushing the effective range out from typically around 600 to 900 m to over 5 km.

As previously mentioned, this extended range increases the area in which households can benefit from mmWave services by around 40 times. It is now being commercially rolled out across a number of cities and is a significant milestone that redefines the value of the mmWave spectrum, enabling UScellular’s mmWave Home Internet solution to deliver speeds of more than 300 Mbps, an increase of 10 to 15 times compared to its 4G LTE home internet offering. Because of the flexibility

of the hardware architecture and software innovations planned for next year, Ericsson will continue to expand the limits of mmWave, further supporting UScellular’s commercial network and their unique usage of the technology.

Mid-band expanding choice and access for consumers

From a technical perspective, mmWave extended range benefits from line of sight in order to reach its full performance. Those households that are unable to establish line of sight between the tower and their property are able to be served by mid-band spectrum, ensuring a solution benefitting all types of consumers. This shows how midband and mmWave spectrums complement each other. As you move further away from the city centers to suburban or rural areas, the broadband options consumers have become more limited; there may be less choice of providers, or perhaps no opportunity to receive high-speed broadband services. Another important factor to consider as you move away from the cities is that the distances between households becomes greater, and therefore, the costs of installing wired technologies to those households also becomes greater. The distances are a physical issue, and wireless technologies can play an

important part in overcoming that issue. By utilizing existing assets, costs can be kept manageable, benefitting both provider and end users. Previously, installing mmWave technology in cities—where range is not such an issue—would have utilized existing street furniture or micro towers, where a range of 500 m would be able to serve a large number of users within that area. This innovative solution extends the range of the mmWave band, which in turn increases the number of previously underserved households that can benefit from it.

Another benefit of this extended range mmWave solution is the time taken to deploy. With the existing macro towers already serving mobile broadband customers, and the infrastructure already in place, upgrading the tower and installing the customer premises equipment (CPE) to receive the mmWave signal can be achieved in a far quicker timeframe— and for far less initial cost—than could be expected for an alternative solution, such as fiber. Additionally, the development of applications and tools to assist the installers when setting up the CPE helps minimize the number of visits required to consumers’ premises to adjust the equipment, resulting in further cost savings as well as reducing potential further disruption to the consumers.

With UScellular now deploying extended range mmWave across a number of cities— with more than 125,000 households now having access to high-speed internet— and plans to expand the service further, the partnership between Ericsson and UScellular continues, working together to bridge the digital divide and using innovative technology to connect people and communities across America.

Watch the video to hear how using 5G mmWave extendedrange FWA will help bridge the digital divide.

Broadband connections via mmWave and mid-band spectrums

June 2022 Ericsson Mobility Report: Global 5G subscriptions to reach 1 billion by the end of this year

In the latest Ericsson Mobility Report—22nd edition of our industry projections and trend analysis—we continue to follow the evolution of the telecom industry, where 5G is scaling faster than any previous mobile generation.

The report reveals that about a quarter of the world’s population currently has access to 5G coverage. Some 70 million 5G subscriptions were added during the first quarter of 2022 alone. By 2027, about three-quarters of the world’s population will be able to access 5G.

In North America, 5G grew strongly in 2021, adding around 64 million subscriptions as migration from 4G to 5G subscriptions picked up pace significantly. 5G is the only growing subscription type and is expected to reach 250 million at the end of 2023. Our forecast— based on past and current data and validated with extensive network measurements— predicts that North America will lead the world in 5G subscription penetration, with 400 million subscriptions expected by 2027.

We also see a strong growth when it comes to mobile data traffic. Globally, mobile network data traffic has doubled in the last two years, driven by continuing growth in smartphone usage, mobile broadband and the digitalization of societies and industries. By the end of 2022, the average monthly usage per smartphone is expected to surpass 15GB, and then grow to 40GB by the end of 2027.

In North America, the average monthly usage per smartphone is expected to surpass 18GB by the end of 2022, and then grow to 52GB by the end of 2027.

These statistics and forecasts highlight the strong demand data connectivity and digital services have, and are expected to continue to have, despite the global COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical uncertainties.

Globally, 5G is forecast to make up almost half of all subscriptions by 2027, topping 4.4 billion.

4.4B

Additional findings from the report

• Fixed wireless access (FWA) is an area growing in importance, and more than 75 percent of service providers surveyed are now offering 5G services. The strongest increase was in North America, where 60 percent of all service providers surveyed now offer 5G FWA. FWA connections are expected to exceed 100 million this year—a number forecast to more than double by 2027.

• Broadband IoT (4G/5G) overtook 2G and 3G as the technology that connects the largest share of all cellular IoT connected devices, accounting for 44 percent of all connections.

• Massive IoT technologies (NB-IoT, Cat-M) increased by almost 80 percent during 2021, reaching close to 330 million connections. The number of IoT devices connected by these technologies is expected to overtake 2G/3G in 2023.

• Around the world, 5G will account for 82 percent of subscriptions in Western Europe, 80 percent in the Gulf Cooperation Council region and 74 percent in Northeast Asia. In India, where 5G deployments have yet to begin, 5G is expected to account for nearly 40 percent of all subscriptions by 2027.

• Globally, 5G is forecast to make up almost half of all subscriptions by 2027, topping 4.4 billion.

The report also contains in-depth articles on the following topics:

• Unleashing the power of IoT connectivity

• The evolution of MTN’s connectivity platform

• Enabling demanding use cases with communications service provider (CSP) edge computing

• Securing 5G networks in an evolving threat landscape

Download the complete June 2022 Ericsson Mobility Report

Ask the experts

In these “Ask the experts” discussions, Nicole Dinion, GNP CSP Engagement Lead, and Reiner Ludwig, Ph.D., Strategic Product Manager for Business Area Networks, answer questions about Ericsson’s acquisition of Vonage and peak download speeds in 5G.

Nicole

Ericsson recently reached an agreement with the Board of Vonage to acquire their business for USD $6.2 billion (USD $21 per share). This is a big step in our company growth strategy: creating global scale in wireless enterprise and driving monetization on top of 4G and 5G networks based on operators’ network investments.

Q: What does Ericsson aim to achieve with the acquisition?

A: This deal underpins Ericsson strategy to support operators to grow their business. Having established technology leadership in 4G and 5G networks, we’re pursuing growth in enterprise and supporting new monetization of the 5G networks. With 5G, the mobile network has the potential to be the biggest innovation platform ever for enterprises and developers.

Ericsson and Vonage will have the know-how, market channels and global scale necessary to seed and create a market for easy-to-adopt global network APIs. This will help operators further monetize their network investments by exposing key network functionality to developers and enterprises through easy-to-use APIs, enabling them to enhance existing applications and innovate new ones. This will enable operators to offer attractive new applications to their customers, driving more traffic and monetization opportunities.

Q: What kind of company is Vonage?

A: Vonage is a publicly listed American company with more than 2,300 employees servicing more than 1 million developers and 120,000 businesses around the world. Vonage is a leader in the fast-growing cloud communications space known as Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) market, which includes the Communications APIs, Unified Communications (UCaaS) and Contact Centers (CCaaS) markets—all delivered through the Vonage Communications Platform (VCP). VCP enables developers and businesses to embed communications capabilities (video, voice, messaging) into existing products, workflows and systems without building back-end infrastructure and interfaces.

Q: Why Vonage? What is its uniqueness compared to its competitors?

A: Vonage is a well-established CPaaS player with high revenues and a high growth profile. There are two things that place Vonage in a strong competitive position. First, it’s the size of their developer community (more than 1 million). Second, it’s their technology leadership in communication APIs. (Furthermore, they have a complementary UCaaS and CCaaS offering that leverages its own CPaaS APIs, which are synergetic with Ericsson’s enterprise ambitions, that many other CPaaS players lack).

Q: Who are Vonage’s customers?

A: Vonage has a base of more than 120,000 business customers across multiple sectors and sizes.

Q: How can regional carriers benefit from this acquisition?

A: Growth in 5G drives more traffic onto customer networks, creating additional revenues. CPaaS, in addition, generates revenues for CSPs by buying SMS and voice termination from them. Vonage has a strong position in UCaaS for small- and medium-sized enterprises. We see this as an opportunity to combine with our wireless office as well as white-label the solution to generate additional revenues for the CSPs.

Reiner Ludwig, Ph.D. Strategic Product Manager for Business Area Networks, Ericsson

Reiner Ludwig, Ph.D., is Ericsson’s Strategic Product Manager for Business Area Networks. He has held various roles within research and development, product management and business development for more than 25 years at Ericsson. He is committed to understanding and measuring user experience and how it is impacted by network performance.

Q: Who cares about peak download speeds in 5G?

A: Smartphone user experience is all about time-to-content: After I click, how much longer do I have to wait before my video starts playing or before I can start scrolling on my news page? On 5G and 4G networks, timeto-content is largely determined by the up- and download speeds available to the device when a user “clicks.” The latest Ericsson Radio System software includes an innovative feature that passively measures every “click” across all live users, 24/7, in all 5G and 4G coverage areas. This way communications service providers can easily see which coverage areas may be challenged to provide a targeted user experience.

To learn more, read my recent blog posts covering user experience and network performance: “Who cares about peak download speeds in 5G?” and “Who cares about latency in 5G?”

Dinion GNP CSP Engagement Lead, Ericsson

Serve

Fighting food insecurity with Minnie’s Food Pantry in North Texas

Minnie’s Food Pantry is the voice for the hungry in North Texas. Headquartered in Plano, Minnie’s is on a mission to provide healthy meals, educational resources and red-carpet treatment to children and families in need. Driven by a deep-seated belief that overall wellness begins with healthy food and financial education, the organization’s fundamental goal is to provide programs that help families gain longterm food security.

Throughout the month of July, Ericsson arranged eight opportunities for teams from Supply Americas and Regional Carriers to volunteer at the food pantry. Fifty-two employees showed up in the Texas summer heat to help run contactless drive-through distribution, prepare bags of food, unload trucks, stock shelves, sort items and fill boxes, helping serve 1,686 individuals— including 58 first-time families. With their assistance, Minnie’s Food Pantry distributed more than 34,000 meals.

Minnie’s Food Pantry was founded by Dr. Cheryl Jackson in honor of her late mother, Minnie Hawthorne-Ewing, D.D. Since its humble beginnings in 2008, the food pantry has expanded to four locations in three states and has provided more than 19 million healthy meals to families in need. Each year, around 20,000 individuals volunteer with Minnie’s Food Pantry, devoting their time and effort to feed families experiencing food poverty.

Bill Chotiner, Chief Technology Officer of Customer Unit Regional Carriers at Ericsson, is excited to have had the opportunity to volunteer with the staff at Minnie’s. “Just like our customers’ networks,” he said, “the food pantry is a 24/7 job fulfilling a fundamental need. What a great way to give back to the community and to help those experiencing hunger while also getting closer with your colleagues. I personally experienced more interaction during a half-day of volunteering than over the course of a normal work week.”

With the support of volunteers like Bill, Minnie’s Food Pantry is making a difference in this region, where food insecurity affects nearly 4 million residents.

According to Feeding Texas1:

1.4 million Texan households face food insecurity.

20% of all children in Texas experience hunger.

11% of households with seniors lack adequate food.

1 in 4 African American children struggle to get enough to eat.

“It’s because of the support of volunteers such as those from Ericsson,” says Zoya Jackson, Chief Operating Officer at Minnie’s Food Pantry, “that we can continue our mission and be a leading force in the fight against hunger. We are beyond grateful for the continued support and activism of the Ericsson family.”

Carolina West Wireless empowers customers to support local schools

Through the Communication 4 Education program, Carolina West customers can effortlessly donate a portion of their monthly bill to help schools in their communities pay for much-needed supplies.

From pencils and markers to monitors and batteries, there’s an endless list of supplies that schools need to create the optimal learning environment for their students. That’s why Carolina West Wireless, the largest rural wireless provider in North Carolina, created the Communication 4 Education program.

The Communication 4 Education program helps school systems in the communities Carolina Wireless serves raise additional funds for supplies and other operational needs. Customers simply select a school they’d like to support, and Carolina Wireless donates 3% of their monthly cellular bill to that school.

“Carolina West Wireless has been supporting our surrounding communities for more than 30 years,” said Jackie Mallory, Chief Marketing and Sales Officer. “At the heart of this commitment is our Communication 4 Education program. We want to do our part to ensure local schools have the resources they need to provide a quality education to their students. Not only does this give students the greatest opportunity to succeed in the future, but it also ultimately helps create a strong workforce for our communities and economy.”

Since the inception of the program more than 15 years ago, Carolina Wireless has donated approximately $1 million to local schools.

“West Wilkes High School is very fortunate to have the support of our community members and businesses,” said principal Amanda P. Pruitt. “Carolina West Wireless has been a long-time supporter of our school. Through their Communication 4 Education program, we receive funding throughout the school year to help support our students. In the past, we have used these funds to purchase safety equipment such as security cameras and fobaccess doors. We have also used the support from the Communication 4 Education program to help us purchase supplies and goodies for our students during the World of Opportunities Conference we host each year. This conference provides students a conference atmosphere with sessions that provide information on colleges, careers and hobbies.”

“We value the support of Carolina West Wireless, and we are grateful for the opportunities they provide our students.”

Amanda Pruitt, Principal at West Wilkes High School

Southern Linc helps make The World Games 2022 a success

In July, Southern Linc served as the Official Push-To-Talk Partner for The World Games 2022 in Birmingham, Alabama. Not only did they provide more than 1,200 mobile devices for event worker coordination, but they also stepped up to the challenge when Wi-Fi availability became unexpectedly limited.

The World Games, held every four years following the Summer Olympic Games, represents the pinnacle of competition for 3,600 of the world’s best athletes in more than 30 sports. Alabama Power (APC) and Southern Linc (Linc) were both tapped to help support the event. APC set up a Mobile Command Center that became the hub for all site logistics and asked Linc to provide its high-speed wireless broadband service.

“They needed really good coverage on-site and inside buildings,” said David Keith, Director of Marketing and Sales for Southern Linc. “The security and reliability of the network were critical, so they wanted a hardened network to be able to handle that.”

To support the data needs of the numerous entities working from the Command Center, Linc utilized APC’s CBRS spectrum in band 48 to deliver a high-speed data connection, with Linc’s LTE network as its backbone. By leveraging carrier aggregation, Linc delivered incredibly fast download (300 Mbps) and upload (22 Mbps) speeds, enabling more than 1.5 TB of data to be consumed during the 10-day event.

But while CBRS took care of connectivity at the Command Center, other venues were experiencing limited Wi-Fi availability. Again, APC reached out to Linc for assistance. Wireless connectivity via Linc’s band 26 spectrum on the CriticalLinc™ LTE network was established for many venues through GE Orbit and Sierra Wireless routers. These routers provided the LTE broadband access needed for venue ticket processing and event timing reporting to World Games servers.

Both APC and The World Games organization appreciated the quick-thinking wireless know-how of the Linc team.

“Supporting The World Games and APC was an incredible opportunity to leverage and showcase the CBRS technology and the robustness of the LTE network,” reported Southern Linc Product Engineer Brian Lee. “I was quite proud of our engineering team. Upon receiving the request only a few days before the event, they were able to finalize deployment of the CBRS site, procure the antenna/router and test and install the working solution.”

Why Ericsson?

146+ years of enabling communication

101,459 employees 180+ Operates in 180+ countries

60,000+ patents

27,739 R&D employees1

130 live 5G networks globally2

About Ericsson Regional Connect

Regional carriers are unique enterprises. They are an integral part of the communities they serve as much as they are businesses seeking growth and sustainability. The Ericsson Regional Connect program was born out of Ericsson’s recognition that regional carriers across the US are united by these common values—and by common challenges: Values we share and challenges our global solutions are perfectly suited to meet.

With an array of live and virtual events, online forums and tools, Ericsson Regional Connect comprises a unique community that brings regional carriers together in an unprecedented way:

Connect—Ericsson Regional Connect facilitates a wide range of opportunities for professionals in the industry to meet and partner with their peers.

About Ericsson

Share—Regional carriers will have access to Ericsson’s global technological leadership and expertise. And they will have a forum for sharing knowledge, ideas and best practices with one another.

Serve—Apply what you gain from Ericsson Regional Connect to better serve your customers, connect the unconnected and give back to your communities.

We invite you to explore what Ericsson Regional Connect can do for you— and what you can do for others. Visit the Regional Connect website

Ericsson enables communications service providers to capture the full value of connectivity. The company’s portfolio spans the following business areas: Networks, Cloud Software and Services, Enterprise Wireless Solutions, Global Communications Platform, and Technologies and New Businesses. It is designed to help our customers go digital, increase efficiency and find new revenue streams. Ericsson’s innovation investments have delivered the benefits of mobility and mobile broadband to billions of people globally. Ericsson stock is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm and on Nasdaq New York.

The content of this document is subject to revision without notice due to continued progress in methodology, design and manufacturing. Ericsson shall have no liability for any error or damage of any kind resulting from the use of this document.

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