Swedish vendor Ericsson has secured a €500m loan with the European Investment Bank to help fund R&D for next generation mobile broadband technology.
The loan will mature seven years after it is disbursed, which Ericsson has the option of triggering…
Swedish vendor Ericsson has secured a €500m loan with the European Investment Bank to help fund R&D for next generation mobile broadband technology.
The loan will mature seven years after it is disbursed, which Ericsson has the option of triggering until April 2014.
According to the company, the financing will be targeted for development activities at sites in Sweden and Finland.
Johan Wibergh, head of the company’s business unit networks division, explained: “We are using new smart devices and apps in new ways and need them to function well all the time everywhere. It’s changing the way we live and it’s placing new requirements on the networks. Our research and development is focused on providing the best performing networks that meet those requirements”.
Back in July, Ericsson announced it had secured a €150m loan with the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB), also for R&D in Sweden and Finland.
It invested SEK32.6bn (€3.77bn) in R&D in 2011, and the new loan will further diversify the company’s funding sources. In total, Ericsson claims to currently hold around 30,000 patents.
