The Latin connection

THE WORLD`S LARGEST telecoms infrastructure builder, Ericsson, has a new head for its sub-Saharan African market unit. He is Lars Linden - company man with 22 years under his belt at the Swedish telecoms leader, 18 of which he`s spent spearheading Ericsson`s growth in Latin America.

But, following the untimely death of his predecessor, Jan Embro, in a car accident earlier this year, Linden was approached with an offer he couldn`t refuse.

"I saw it as a good opportunity to shift from one continent to the other. I think that there are many similarities between Africa and Latin America. They have some similar business dynamics, and having the opportunity to work with Africa will imply that I can cross-fertilise the learnings I have had in Latin America to the African continent, and hopefully this will be fruitful going forward," he says.

As head and president of Ericsson Market Unit sub-Saharan Africa, Linden will be responsible for a multimillion-rand operation that builds mobile networks and rolls out accompanying services for nearly 100 customers in 43 African countries, and overseeing over 1 000 staff members.

Ericsson operates in sub-Saharan Africa from four hubs: the principal one being SA, then Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal, hubs which it services from its trio of business units - business networks, global services and multimedia.

"There are many customers, Ericsson companies and employees within the region, and it will take some time for me to meet them all and devise ways of working with them," admits Linden.

Customers include a who`s who of mobile operators on the continent - MTN, Zain, France Telecom (which operates as Orange), Vodacom and Vodafone.

POISED FOR MORE GROWTH

Linden says his assessment of the operation can be summarised in three points. "First of all, Ericsson in this part of the world has been quite successful over the last five to 10 years. It is not a secret that telecoms in Africa has had some very interesting years in this time; perhaps starting a little bit later than other markets of the world, so Ericsson has had the opportunity to position itself quite well, meaning that we have operations in virtually 90% of African countries. Secondly, penetration in this market unit is 35%, which is quite low compared to other world markets. Thirdly, given the fact that Ericsson has positioned itself well, and given the fact that there is potential for growth, I can only conclude that Ericsson will have a lot to contribute to the development of telecoms in sub-Saharan Africa going forward. And it`s not only about providing mobile services, it`s also about changing the way in which people live as societies. We see ourselves as a facilitator, in the world market, to change the way businesses, society, and people work and live their lives," he elaborates.

RECESSIONARY RIPPLES

Linden acknowledges that, while Ericsson is the market leader, the global economic recession has resulted in tougher competition. "Many of our competitors have [entered into] ventures with one other to gain volume and scale. Ericsson has not had to do that, since we have been able to position ourselves as perhaps stronger than the rest. These partnerships are not a new thing, but it`s a fact of the day that our competitors are doing extraordinary things to maintain their position in the market. But Ericsson has been able to come through these last years in a very strong way," he says.

Linden is also of the opinion that telecoms, being such an important service to society, has perhaps suffered less during these troubled economic times than other industries. "People, in principle, believe that the recession is hitting the bottom [of the cycle] and that we will hopefully see a turnaround going forward. If that is so, then that is very good news, and we can continue and do what we are good at doing, not that it has hindered us in acting in the market," he continues.

Linden observes that Ericsson has been part of Africa`s development for the last decade and, as one of its strongest telecoms players, "we are really encouraged and happy to be able to participate going forward. This is our reason to be: to build networks and be with our operators and customers to push the limits and the frontiers of what telecoms can do for any society".