Ericsson completes acquisition of Vonage Holdings

Ericsson, a multinational telecommunications company, on Thursday, said it had completed the acquisition of Vonage Holdings Corporation, an American business cloud communications provider.
Ericsson, in a statement, said the acquisition would support the company’s strategy to leverage technology leadership to grow its mobile network business and expand its enterprise.
It said the acquisition would give Ericsson the access to powerful building blocks to offer a full suite of communications solutions including, Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS), Unified Communications as a Service
(UCaaS) and Contact Center as a Service
( CCaaS).
According to the company, by leveraging Vonage CPaaS offering, they aim to transform the way advanced 5G network capabilities are exposed, consumed and paid for.
It said this would provide the global developer community, including Vonage more than one million registered developers, with easy access to 4G and 5G network capabilities via open Application Programme Interfaces (APIs).
 
“To accelerate growth in Vonage’s UCaaS and CCaaS solutions, Ericsson intends to increase research and development investments and offer these solutions to Communication Service Providers(CSPs), enabling Ericsson’s existing customers to sell through their own brands, and accelerate growth.
 
“Ericsson will also complement existing communications offerings to small and medium sized companies with the Vonage UCaaS and CCaaS solutions which will form a strong part of Ericsson’s offerings to both CSPs and enterprises,” it said.
 
The Chief Executive Officer of Ericsson, Mr Börje Ekholm, said they were excited to welcome Vonage as part of their company.
He said that with Vonage’s suite of communications solutions UCaaS, CCaaS and Communications APIs, Ericsson would further expand its offerings into the enterprise space.
 
Ekholm said that in the future, network capabilities would be consumed and paid for through open network APIs, creating the opportunity for unparalleled innovation.
“We have already launched the first network API, dynamic end-user boost, based on existing 4G infrastructure, but with Vonage, we will now develop and commercialise these new APIs.
“We are already seeing great progress with front-runner CSPs and we aim to launch the first 5G network APIs in the coming year.
“Ericsson will continue to create new, enhanced applications and services for enterprises, while driving continued innovation on Vonage’s UCaaS and CCaaS applications by helping businesses create new digital experiences for better communications, connections and engagement,” he said.
Ekholm said that by linking the network world with the global developer community, they were creating a paradigm shift that would put the network at the center.
 
“This will allow CSPs to have a new monetisation opportunity supporting investments in high-performance networks,” he said.
 
He said that the acquisition would also further strengthen Ericsson’s presence and long-term commitment to the United States, where it has a 120-year history of conducting business.
The Chief Executive Officer of Vonage, Rory Read said: “Vonage was borne out of innovation and is today a global leader in business cloud communications.
He said that the partnership would strengthen their offerings to businesses across the globe by leveraging Ericsson’s leadership in 5G, global market presence and strong research and development capabilities.
Read said that with the demand for UCaaS, CCaaS and Communications APIs growing rapidly, the combined expertise, talent and innovation was good news for their customers and partners.