Lars Ramqvist

President and Chief Executive Officer, Ericsson

by Timothy Haight

Ericsson has expanded rapidly into new geographical and tech-

nological markets in recent years, and Lars Ramqvist, Ericsson's president and CEO since 1990, has been leading that expansion. "Mobile communication is a driving force," Ramqvist says. "We haven't seen the end." Penetration of mobile personal communications services around the globe will continue to increase. In the future, a great increase will occur in the amount of multimedia in the world's networks.

Growth means competition, however, and that competition breeds its own challenges. "Many people and nations are actively seeking their piece of the pie, and it's clear there's a tendency for them not to cooperate in achieving universal personal service." Ramqvist says. "This goes for radio, the fiber optical system and access to the global network."

Ramqvist would also like to see new initiatives for free trade, such as the establishment of a world free trade union. "Ericsson is interested in getting rid of all obstacles to free trade," he says. "We are not afraid of price/performance competition, but we do fear political hindrance."

Most Important Trend: Increasing intelligence in the global comm network

Most Disturbing Trend: Cooperation on standards could degenerate into battles

NetPeeve: Hard-to-use network apps

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