Ericsson strikes Microsoft, AWS deals for enterprise 5G

With the comms industry’s premier trade show MWC just days away, leading comms tech provider Ericsson has announced a number of key deals and partnerships, including those with Microsoft and AWS, as well as the opening of a new telecoms innovation R&D Centre in Japan

With Microsoft, Ericsson is aiming to bring enterprise-grade 5G laptop management to Windows 11, integrating advanced mobility capabilities directly into the business platform. The two companies claim that their partnership will be no less than transformative, allowing worldwide enterprises – and their workforces – to benefit from secure, policy-driven laptop connectivity, simplifying how their IT departments manage, protect and scale mobile PC fleets.

Explaining the rationale for the partnership, Ericsson and Microsoft noted that firms face long-standing challenges in adopting cellular-connected laptops, facing the need to minimise manual setup and ensuring consistent user experience across locations and service providers. As a result, there was demand for new capabilities to reduce IT overheads and provide enterprises with a predictable, secure pathway to tap modern mobility capabilities.

Technologically, the joint solution combines Microsoft Intune device management with the Ericsson Enterprise 5G Connect AI- and cloud-analytics-powered platform that continuously monitors network quality and automatically adjusts connectivity to optimise performance and security.

The two firms believes that embedding of AI-based 5G management into Windows 11 enables IT teams to automate how devices connect and switch between comms networks and apply in-house enterprise policies. Using Microsoft Intune and Ericsson Enterprise 5G Connect, IT teams can automatically enforce secure connectivity profiles and enterprise policies across every 5G-connected device. This is said to minimise manual setup while ensuring consistent, compliant user experiences everywhere employees work.

Other key new features include the ability to set remotely network policies for 5G as priority; the automatic switching of eSIMs; and the local AI agent running on a Surface 5G laptop to make intelligent, context-aware decisions in real time.

The joint solution is now available to enterprises in key markets: in the US with T-Mobile; in Sweden with Telenor; in Singapore with Singtel; and in Japan with SoftBank Corp. Similar launches will follow during 2026 in other markets, including MasOrange in Spain; O2 Telefónica Germany; in Finland with Elisa.

Meanwhile, with AWS, Ericsson has launched the agentic rApp as a Service (rApp aaS) to revamp network optimisation using Agentic AI for reasoning and coordination of the optimisation workflow. Available immediately through the AWS Marketplace, rApp aaS is also designed to ease deployment and improves scalability, flexibility and cost control for CSPs on an Autonomous Networks journey.

The solution also introduces a natural language interface, using generative AI, enabling teams at communication service providers (CSPs) to effectively talk with the network, translating natural language into instructions for the Agentic-AI-powered system.

Hosted on AWS, the new rApp aaS – for which field testing is underway with leading global CSPs – connects to the Non-RT RIC (RAN Intelligent Controller), within service management and orchestration (SMO) framework via the R1 interface, which is the open, standardised interface defined by the Open RAN Alliance that connects the global innovation ecosystem to a CSP’s network.

“While many in the market now claim to provide rApps, only a small number have demonstrated successful, production-level deployments with ORAN-compliant interfaces,” said James Crawshaw, practice leader at research firm Omdia commenting on the launch. “And no other vendor offers a comparable rApp-as-a-Service solution. These two aspects create a real distinction, setting this new offering apart.”

Looking to further advance technologies such as O-RAN, the new Ericsson Japan R&D Centre will be located in Yokohama’s Minato Mirai 21 district and is scheduled to begin operations in April 2026, with the official inauguration in the first half of 2027. The facility will look to drive innovation in high-performing programmable 5G networks, next-generation mobile technologies and open network architectures such as O-RAN.

As well as investigating radio technology, it will look to foster ecosystem collaboration and support standardisation efforts for Japanese and global markets. Additionally, the facility will support customer and partner collaborations via dedicated on-site office and collaboration areas, including international standardisation efforts.