Ericsson has finally completed its $6.2 billion acquisition of cloud communications provider Vonage after clearing some major hurdles.
The Swedish vendor first announced its biggest-ever acquisition in November last year.
Börje Ekholm, President and CEO of Ericsson, said: “The core of our strategy is to build leading mobile networks through technology leadership. This provides the foundation to build an enterprise business. The acquisition of Vonage is the next step in delivering on that strategic priority. Vonage gives us a platform to help our customers monetise their investments in the network, benefitting developers and businesses.
“Imagine putting the power and capabilities of 5G, the biggest global innovation platform, at the fingertips of developers. Then back it with Vonage’s advanced capabilities, in a world of eight billion connected devices.”
While such large deals typically attract the attention of regulators, it was only when Ericsson admitted to corruption by some of its representatives that it was put on hold.
In February, Ericsson acknowledged that it found evidence of “corruption-related misconduct” in its Iraq operations and cannot rule out that payments were made to terror groups, including ISIS.
The latest admission of corruption follows a probe that led to a $1 billion settlement in 2019 after a unit of Ericsson AB “admitted to a years-long campaign of corruption” in at least five countries across Asia and the Middle East.
With such a history, it seems US regulators wanted to take a bit more time than usual to examine Ericsson’s acquisition of Vonage.
Last week, Ericsson finally received the green light from US authorities to go ahead with the acquisition.
Rory Read, Vonage CEO, commented: “Vonage was born out of innovation and is today a global leader in business cloud communications. This partnership will strengthen our offerings to businesses across the globe by leveraging Ericsson’s leadership in 5G, global market presence and strong R&D capabilities. With the demand for UCaaS, CCaaS and Communications APIs growing rapidly, the combined expertise, talent and innovation is good news for our customers and partners.
“The way we work, shop, learn, see a doctor, exercise, and entertain is fundamentally changing. Together, Ericsson and Vonage will be at the heart of the next wave of digital transformation, providing enterprises, CSPs, and end users with innovative applications and services that will change how business gets done.”
(Photo by Eduard Labár on Unsplash)
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