Weathering the 5G crosswinds at Ericsson analyst event 2025

Ericsson used its annual analyst event in Boston to outline the steps it is taking to strengthen its enterprise connectivity portfolio, set against the backdrop of a challenging financial period for the company. This report highlights four key themes that emerged from the event.

Welcome to our ‘Coffee break reading’ series. These pieces are designed to be short and easy to read, presenting our opinion on a hot topic and challenging you to think about it too.

In this edition, we delve into the key takeaways from Ericsson’s annual analyst event which provide an overview of what’s to come for the Swedish vendor.

On 11 September 2025, Ericsson hosted telecom and tech analysts from around the world at an industry analyst event in the US city of Boston. The day provided insight into the strategy of a major vendor navigating a period of revenue decline: full-year net sales decreased 6% year on year in 2024, and H1 2025 results indicate the trend is continuing, with revenues down a further 2% year on year. While these immediate challenges are largely the result of stagnation in the radio access network (RAN) market, Ericsson also faces deeper structural shifts that could reshape its revenue base. These include the prospect of 6G emerging primarily as a software upgrade rather than a new hardware cycle and the rising competitive threat of non-terrestrial network (NTN) providers encroaching on the terrestrial connectivity market.

Ericsson service offerings in scope for the Boston analyst event

Download now to get our take in an 8-minute read.

Our insight covers the following key points:

• The impact and implementation of AI
• Building a uniform mobile connectivity fabric
• Targeting new industry verticals
• Monetising the 5G core

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George Glanville

George Glanville

Senior Analyst

George is a Senior Analyst at STL Partners, bringing expertise across a diverse range of topic areas, including edge AI, sovereign AI, and private networks. He specialises in producing our edge computing and network innovation research, contributing to reports and quantitative tools within both of these practice areas. Lately, his work has centred on how AI and distributed computing are reshaping the infrastructure landscape, including projects with the European Commission to assess Europe’s competitiveness in these domains. George joined STL Partners after obtaining a BSc in Economics from the University of Bristol.