Europe Is No Longer Role Model In Digital World: Ericsson CEO Borje Ekholm
During a panel discussion at CII Partnership Summit, Ekholm appreciated the rapid rollout of 5G in India compared to the rest of the world.
Europe is no longer a role model in the digital world, and there is a big question mark on it, Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson President and CEO Borje Ekholm said on Wednesday.
During a panel discussion at CII Partnership Summit, Ekholm appreciated the rapid rollout of 5G in India compared to the rest of the world.
"I think Europe is a big question mark where it is heading. Today, if you look at the digital world, Europe is not a role model. Europe is not building out digital infrastructure, etc. I see big concerns about Europe when we talk to our customers," he said, while responding to a question on the global economic scenario.
Ekholm said that the war in Ukraine has dented consumer sentiments but there is also very high inflation, very high food inflation, and very high inflation on the cost of living that is removing a lot of consumer income from the market.
"I see big concerns about Europe when we talk to our customers. And that, to me, is worrisome. We are a European company, we still have a European base. So for us, Europe is important," he said.
He said the U.S. market is fundamentally performing very well and the people who are losing jobs are getting absorbed into other companies.
Nokia Corporation President and CEO Pekka Lundmark said that he has not seen any huge cuts in spending by customers.
"There have been cases here and there but in the big picture, I am optimistic. The key reason why I'm optimistic in the big picture is that only about 30% of the world economy is digitised, compared to what the full potential is. The technology we are providing is a central part of the answer to pretty much all key problems that the world is facing, battling climate change, etc," Lundmark said.