Telstra's 5G co-developer Cradlepoint acquired by Ericsson

Networking and telecommunications giant Ericsson has acquired wireless edge WAN vendor Cradlepoint for US$1.1 billion.

US-based Cradlepoint last year partnered with Telstra to co-develop a 5G offering for its SMB and enterprise customers based on its NetCloud platform. The platform allows Telstra’s customers to build and manage wireless WANs featuring lifecycle management, edge security and SD-WAN traffic management.

The company also appointed Tech Data as its local distributor around the same time.

Ericsson said the acquisition was key to its ongoing strategy of capturing market share in the 5G enterprise space, and that Cradlepoint complemented its existing 5G enterprise portfolio. The company said that it has had a long-standing collaboration with Cradlepoint, dating back to the launch of 4G in the US.

Cradlepoint will become a fully-owned Ericsson subsidiary and part of its Business Area Technologies and New Businesses division, but will also continue operating under the same brand and will retain all employees.

Ericsson president and chief executive Börje Ekholm said, "Portfolio-near acquisitions are an integral part of our earlier communicated strategy. The acquisition of Cradlepoint complements our existing offerings and is key to our strategy of helping customers grow the value of their 5G network investments.”

“Ericsson is uniquely positioned to build on Cradlepoint’s leadership position in Wireless Edge and the wireless WAN market. Combining the scale of our market access and established relationships with the world’s biggest mobile operators we are making a strong investment to support our customers to grow in this exciting market. I would like to extend a very warm welcome to all Cradlepoint employees.”

Cradlepoint chairman and CEO George Mulhern said, “We have led the way in bringing the power of cellular networks and technologies to enterprise and public sector customers – helping them connect beyond the limits of traditional wired WANs.”

“Ericsson with its global 5G leadership is a great match for us and I am very excited to continue to scale and expand our business together.”

Ericsson said the transaction was expected to close before the end of Q4 2020, subject to closing conditions.