Ericsson Market Area North East Asia (MNEA) Head, Chris Houghton, and China Mobile Vice President Li Zhengmao, have signed a Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018 to develop Internet of Things (IoT) opportunities in industry and enterprises.

Ericsson CEO and President, Börje Ekholm, and China Mobile Chairman, Shang Bing, were also in attendance at the signing ceremony.

The partnership will build on Ericsson’s leadership in industry solutions and Device Connection Platform IoT (DCP-IoT) Connectivity Management platform, as part of the IoT Accelerator Platform, to help China Mobile expand IoT business worldwide, and to support China’s One Belt One Road initiative.

Ericsson and China Mobile will jointly build an Industry IoT Cooperation Center to plan for and develop IoT Connectivity and IoT ecosystem solutions in areas such as manufacturing, industry, health, and intelligent transportation. Built on China Mobile’s Co-Space and Ericsson Garage, the CMCC-Ericsson Garage aims to jointly hatch new cutting-edge technologies and applications.

As the move to Industry 4.0 picks up pace, the partnership aims to provide government, enterprise and individual customers with richer, multilevel communication, information infrastructure and digital services while maximizing the economic and social benefits.

The latest Ericsson Mobility Report predicts more than 30 billion connected devices by 2023, around 20 billion of which will be related to IoT. Connected IoT devices include connected cars, machines, meters, sensors, point-of-sale terminals, consumer electronics and wearables. Between 2017 and 2023, connected IoT devices are expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate 19 percent, driven by new use case and affordability.

Driven by the national Made-in-China and Industry 4.0 initiatives, Ericsson aims to support China Mobile in making smart manufacturing a reality, while delivering value for money customer experiences. Technology leadership, such as Ericsson’s 5G and IoT Connectivity Management, is crucial to that success.

The companies will strengthen cooperation in 5G standardization and 5G networks, and also jointly develop 5G network-enabled use cases for industries, as well as exploring business opportunities to reach the full potential of IoT.

Chris Houghton, Head of Market Area North East Asia, Ericsson, says: “At MWC 2018 we are showing that we are no longer just talking about 5G and IoT, we are doing what it takes to make it happen. The IoT Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement with China Mobile shows we are working with partners to put our 5G and IoT technology leadership into practice.”

SMART MANUFACTURING

China Mobile and Ericsson are also teaming up in a China Mobile booth at MWC 2018 to demonstrate a proof of concept covering the transformative impact of 5G on industry digitalization.

Building on the Network Slicing-focused 5G-enabled Smart Factory demo at MWC 2017, the real-time 5G-Enabled Smart Manufacturing demonstration showcases how artificial intelligence, automation control, big data and edge cloud-leading technologies can be integrated and enabled by 5G in industrial manufacturing.

Demo participants take the place of a worker tasked to assemble a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) in a smart factory environment in real time via a touch screen. Supported by 5G, the worker can train the robot arm to assemble a RRU, comprising housing, printed circuit board and cover. The robot will try to assemble the three parts with the help of artificial intelligence.

The interface and the traffic pattern can be supported by a 5G network. When 5G products are ready, they can be easily integrated in the end-to-end system.