Ericsson has upped its forecast for global 5G subscriptions from 2.6 billion to 2.8 billion by 2025.

“More than ever, connectivity is key,” says CEO Borje Ekholm. “With the spread of Covid-19, fixed and mobile telecommunications networks have become an even bigger part of the critical infrastructure, showing the importance of quality in the connectivity. When we looked across all service providers, not just leaders, network quality correlated with increased ARPU and reduced churn. Put simply, investing in network quality keeps subscribers happy.”

Along with datacentre operators and their supply chains, notebook manufacturers, cloud services suppliers and DRAM vendors, telecoms has been one of the industries benefiting from the effects of the coronavirus.

Most if this derives from the worldwide move to working from home. Ericsson implemented remote working practices in early March and now has 85,000 employees routinely working from home.

Along with Huawei and Nokia, Ericsson is one of only three companies able to supply complete, end-to-end, proprietary 5G infrastructure.

It recently won a major contract with BT and has other contracts with telcos in Germany, the Netherlands, Greece, Finland, and Hungary.