Ericsson to set up new 5G assembly line in Brazil

The investment is said to be made between 2020 and 2025 and cover everything from the hiring of new employees to the equipment, Eduardo Ricotta, president of Ericsson Latam South, told Reuters. The told the news outlet that the company is already exports 40% of the equipment assembled in the country to Latin American countries; and that the will be no different with 5G. Ericsson is currently aiming to have the assembly line up and running by the third quarter of 2020. In order to reach this goal the company will spend some USD 47.3 million to set up the line in its manufacturing facility located in Sao Jose dos Campos, near Sao Paulo. However, while this might be the current schedule, Ricotta points out that this also will depend on the 5G auction. As Reuters writes, the country is still determining the rules for the 5G auction, which has has already been postponed before. If the auction would be further postponed to 2021, the Swedish telecom company estimates a massive loss of around BRL 25 billion (USD 5.8 billion), according to a study released earlier in October.. At the same time, the 5G deployment in Brazil is expected to trigger huge investments and creating over 200’000 jobs, the report concludes.