Sweden's Ericsson was one of the first telecommunications equipment providers to enter Ukraine, opening an office in 1995. The move paid off as it turned into a core supplier to Ukrainian mobile network operators and Internet vendors.
Now, as Ukraine makes the transition to third generation Internet, Ericsson sees more opportunities.
“The
real competition between Ukrainian operators will start soon, when all
three operators launch 3G,” said Wojciech Bajda, the head of Ericsson Ukraine. “Competition for who is first, what tariffs they offer, what
packages.”
Price flexibility should determine which mobile operator
will get ahead in the race, Bajda said. Operators, in turn, will demand
good quality 3G equipment during the transition process, an area in
which Ericsson excels.
Wojciech Bajda, the head of Ericsson Ukraine, talks about opportunities in Ukraine at the company office on April 8.
Bajda, a Polish national, has for two years
headed Ukraine’s Ericsson office where more than 150 are employed. He
says Ukraine will be able to roll out 3G and get business and government
to see its benefits much faster than Poland and other countries of
Central and Western Europe did.
When 3G came into full commercial use
in Poland 10 years ago, according to Bajda, it took several years to
educate people about the opportunities that the technology provides and
to supply the market with affordable yet compatible smartphones.
The
conditions are better in Ukraine, Ericsson company research found.
Internet penetration is growing, users are aware of many online services
and more than 12 million Ukrainians already have smartphones compatible
with 3G technology.
“Ukrainians with smartphones act the same way as
consumers from European Union countries. The only difference is that
you download data when you are connected to Wi-Fi,” Bajda says. “When 3G
comes with reasonable pricing, Wi-Fi will be forgotten though. People
will start using the speed and quality of mobile data.”
Mobile
operators are supposed to introduce 3G in regional capitals within 18
months, according to licensing rules. Thus, Ericsson Ukraine hopes to
expand on the local market and beat competitors Huawei, ZTE,
Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Networks.
According to Bajda, the company
has made many acquisitions in TV, media, online billing and
sophisticated card-charging systems globally as a part of its
strategy to address non-telecom customers.
Ukrainians “have very good skills in telecom engineering, system integration and software development especially,” Bajda says.
Ericsson
has no research and development or production centers here. But it
plans to establish a network operations center which will support all
mobile and Internet networks through daily maintenance, checking alarms,
connection and the state of equipment. This will improve the business
operations of Ukrainian operators and let them concentrate on marketing
and promotion, while network maintenance will be outsourced.
“When we
facilitate development of mobile broadband, that creates job places,
facilitates Ukraine’s gross domestic product and economy overall,” Bajda
says. “As a Swedish company, we support Ukraine. We are ready to bring
our technologies in order to lift you up to next level of
telecommunications.”
Kyiv Post staff writer Bozhena Sheremeta can be reached at [email protected]. The Kyiv Post’s IT coverage is sponsored by AVentures Capital, Ciklum, FISON and SoftServe.
This story is part of a joint series on international high tech business in Ukraine be the Kyiv Post and Ukraine Digital News.
