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It said it is aiming to employ engineers and artificial
intelligence specialists.
"This is part of an increase in R&D investment. It doesn't mean
we are cutting (staff) somewhere else to do this," Chief
Executive Borje Ekholm told Reuters.
Many investors expect the Swedish company to benefit from a new
cycle of network upgrades as demand for 5G gear kicks in later
this year or early in 2019, starting in the United States.
After a broad restructuring and clear out of top management,
Ericsson is tackling falling spending on networks by telecoms
operators, but it has added recruits in research and development
in order to be ready to meet eventual demand for 5G networks.
The company, which has around 95,000 employees worldwide, also
said it would build its first 5G radios in the United States by
the end of this year.
Once the world's biggest supplier of mobile communications gear,
Ericsson competes with bigger telecom equipment players Huawei
of China and Finland's Nokia <NOKIA.HE>.
Nokia last month said it had won a $3.5 billion deal with
T-Mobile, the third biggest U.S. mobile carrier. The United
States is Ericsson's largest market, accounting for around 25
percent of its revenue.
Ekholm declined to comment on its market share this year, but
said "we have very good momentum in our customer relations."
Last month, the company posted an unexpected swing to a modest
operating profit citing growing sales traction in North America.
(Reporting by Olof Swahnberg and Helena Soderpalm; editing by
Jason Neely)
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