Fredrik Jejdling, president and head of region, Ericsson India, is full of admiration for the telecom industry, for its role in transforming individual lives and societies…

The evolution of the telecom industry has been a source of great inspiration for Fredrik Jejdling, president and head of region, Ericsson India. The way telecom has transformed lives, changed the way people communicate and empowered them is something he finds stupendous. “This industry has served humankind in more ways than one can imagine,” he says.

Jejdling foresees a future world of endless connectivity, using applications and social networking. Tomorrow’s consumers will expect connectivity in virtually every device they use. “By 2020, almost everything – from cameras to toothbrushes – will become connected, adding up to an incredible 50 billion connected devices. Hence, we believe that in the coming years, we will be living in a networked society, in which everything that benefits from a connection will be connected. We will increasingly find that technology is an input, not an outcome, to bring huge changes in the way we work, share and care about our fellow human beings,” he says.

The big trends for the future are mobility, broadband and the cloud, and all three, he adds, are interdependent. Asked what has been his most enjoyable assignment to date, he replies “this one” – not because it’s the “correct” thing to say but because it is simply incontestable that India is at an inflection point generally and the telecom industry has been an important part of this amazing growth story.

“Broadband and mobility are picking up here, making this turf exciting and challenging at the same time. The growth of mobile broadband is bringing new opportunities for us to expand our business and venture into new areas. I believe India will be one of the biggest markets for mobile broadband by 2015,” he says.

In 2011-12, Ericsson will leverage its established global leadership in LTE to secure a share of the TD-LTE deals with the broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum winners in India. In services, it is building capabilities to manage a much greater level of network complexity and hence, move towards expanding its managed services business. “We are also very focused on competence development and employee retention, with strong emphasis being placed on the management’s ability to lead.”

It is, in fact, already the managed services partner for several telecom majors. Ericsson, for example, has renewed and extended its managed services contract with Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited (SSTL) for four new circles – Rajasthan, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh (East and West). As part of the three-year agreement, Ericsson will be responsible for network optimisation, operations and maintenance including field operations and 24x7 network service assurance, and fulfilment of network service provisioning, customer problem management and spare parts management.

Similarly, the company has signed a five-year managed services contract with Bharti airtel for its Africa operations. Under the agreement, Ericsson will manage and optimise the operator’s mobile networks in order to provide a better customer experience.

Jejdling, who was appointed president and head of region, Ericsson India, in June this year, believes the company is well positioned and will continue to make investments in India to create more assets that can be leveraged by Indian as well as global operators. He sees tremendous opportunities in the Indian telecom market and says the country will continue to be a major part of the company’s global strategy, both in terms of domestic business as well as capabilities that can be leveraged from India.

“We will harness our combined strength (global services centre, manufacturing unit, R&D, regional technical centres and operations) in India to create a competitive advantage in the marketplace,” he says.

The company is already taking steps to achieve this target. In August this year, it announced that it was increasing its investment in the Global Services Center in India. In addition, consulting-related activities and systems integration are expected to help the company focus on the strategic IT domain, which includes IT data centres, service layer and business and operations support systems.

As an experienced Ericsson hand – he has held several key positions in the company – Jejdling brings invaluable expertise to the job. In the past, he held the position of vice-president and head of engagement practices, where he was responsible for customer engagements within the India region. Before that, he was vice-president and head of sales and finance for business unit global services.

His previous assignments include various senior managerial positions in LUX Asia Pacific, Singapore and LUX Australia where he spearheaded the move towards a branding strategy and new products from design and development to sales systems.

He began his career with the Tele2 Group after finishing his MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Ontario and an M.Sc. in economics and business administration from the Stockholm School of Economics. He also undertook training for lieutenant/ reserve officers at the Royal Swedish Naval Academy and served as lieutenant and combat command officer with the navy. These early experiences taught him how to drive teams and assume leadership skills.

His early ideal, he says, was to be part of transformation, as a team player or as a leader, to contribute to a larger cause that “can make a difference”. He is very happy indeed that he ended up entering the telecom industry where he has been able to fulfil many of his deepest impulses through an industry that has transformed communication, connected people and places, and empowered societies.

In his current post, he is responsible for managing overall operations, giving direction for future growth and maintaining a profitable and customer-focused organisation. His key responsibilities include developing strong relationships with customers, keeping employees engaged and leveraging the company’s combined strengths to exploit business possibilities. “I have been meeting with existing and potential customers to understand their needs and find solutions to their problems. I intend to stay close to customers and employees as much as possible, he says.”

In fact, this is one of his key strengths. “By virtue of working closely with customers in various profiles and different geographies, I have acquired strong market and business intelligence that helps me connect with them and understand their problems better,” he adds.

He can also draw on Ericsson’s 135-year-old legacy of global experience, technology and services leadership. “We have been transforming and reinventing ourselves regularly to address the changing market dynamics and the demands of our customers.

“Today, we are one of the few companies worldwide that can offer end-to-end solutions for all major mobile communication standards. We are evolving as an ICT company and were rated last year as one of the top five software companies in the world,” he says.

A highly focused person, Jejdling’s day starts at 7 a.m., reviewing emails. During a typical day, he spends about half his time meeting customers and the rest with people in the organisation.

Weekends are devoted to the family because there is so little time for them during the week. Family is very important to him because he grew up himself in a happy family in a small Swedish town. He was involved in different kinds of sports in his childhood and has kept up this interest. Above all, he feels grateful to the telecom industry for giving him a fascinating and fulfilling career.