Ericsson Bets on New Software to Spur 5G Revenue Growth

A logo of Ericsson is seen outside the company's office in Kanata, Ontario, Canada April 17, 2023. REUTERS/Lars Hagberg/File Photo
A logo of Ericsson is seen outside the company's office in Kanata, Ontario, Canada April 17, 2023. REUTERS/Lars Hagberg/File Photo
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Ericsson Bets on New Software to Spur 5G Revenue Growth

A logo of Ericsson is seen outside the company's office in Kanata, Ontario, Canada April 17, 2023. REUTERS/Lars Hagberg/File Photo
A logo of Ericsson is seen outside the company's office in Kanata, Ontario, Canada April 17, 2023. REUTERS/Lars Hagberg/File Photo

Sweden's Ericsson said on Wednesday it has partnered with Deutsche Telekom to offer software tools for developers and business customers that will allow telecom operators to get more revenue.

Known as network application programming interface (API), the software will use the Vonage platform - a company Ericsson bought for $6.2 billion in 2022 - to help developers create new use cases based on a mobile network.

Network APIs can be used by businesses for things such as boosting 5G speed when needed to locate a customer's phone in a store when a transaction is taking place to prevent fraud, Reuters reported.

"We view the API business as a standalone business in itself, so we need to make that profitable by itself and the way the revenue split works is attractive for us and will be attractive for Deutsche Telekom," Ericsson Chief Executive Borje Ekholm said in an interview.

Telecom research firm STL Partners predicts that revenue from mobile network APIs will grow to over $20 billion by 2028.

More than 140 companies are working under an open source project called CAMARA to define, develop and test network APIs.

After investing hundreds of billions of dollars on 5G infrastructure, telecom operators have been trying to get returns from selling faster connections to businesses to automating factories, with varying success.

"They (operators) want to get more revenue, they will be able to sell features, whether it's speed, latency, location authentication, they are going to sell a lot of different things coming out of the network," Ekholm said.

"That gives a new source of revenue they haven't had for a long time."



Pinterest Shares Surge as Strong Ad Spend Defies Tariff Uncertainty

A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed Pinterest logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. (Reuters)
A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed Pinterest logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. (Reuters)
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Pinterest Shares Surge as Strong Ad Spend Defies Tariff Uncertainty

A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed Pinterest logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. (Reuters)
A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed Pinterest logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. (Reuters)

Pinterest shares jumped more than 11% on Friday, after a strong quarterly revenue forecast allayed investor jitters about the uncertainty of advertising spending on its platform amid global economic volatility.

Its robust first-quarter revenue positions it alongside peers Reddit and Facebook-parent Meta, which also saw strong top-line results at a time when deepening global trade tensions have clouded the outlook for many firms dependent on marketing spend.

A shifting US trade policy coupled with escalating geopolitical tensions have sparked fears of a spike in inflation levels and a possible recession, prompting a broader pullback in consumer and enterprise spending.

However, Pinterest's focus on strengthening the effectiveness of its artificial intelligence tools for creating ad campaigns and a growing Gen Z userbase makes it an attractive destination for marketers.

"AI is helping to serve up the right type of ads for different audience segments, which ultimately means there could be a greater propensity to click on the ad if it is relevant," said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.

Pinterest's global monthly active users rose 10% from a year earlier to 570 million in the first quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations according to data compiled by LSEG.

"We believe Pinterest's strategic focus on AI improvements and international expansion is yielding results," said Angelo Zino, senior equity analyst at CFRA Research.

Pinterest flagged a reduction in spending from Asian e-commerce retailers due to the roll-back of the "de minimis" exemption earlier this year, which led notable Chinese advertisers including online marketplace Temu and fast-fashion retailer Shein to slash ad budgets.

Barclays analysts said they expect "trends to worsen in e-commerce advertising" later this year if and when tariffs impact consumer spending.

If gains hold, Pinterest is set to add around $2 billion to its market cap.

The company trades at 14.51 times the estimates of its earnings for the next 12 months, compared with Reddit's 67.65 and Snap's 22.19.