James Pearce, TelecomTV (00:05):
So we've come to the end of the first day of Ericsson's Core Network Summit 2026, and I'm delighted to be joined by Sofia Isacsson, who is the Head of Core Network Sales Engagements at Ericsson. Sofia, congratulations on a successful start to the event. Tell me, what are your key takeaways from day one?

Sofia Isacsson, Ericsson (00:25):
Well, I would say, first, it's a lot of uncertainties. We're in a typical VUCA state in the market: volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. And a lot of us have trained for VUCA-type situations. But I think very few of us have understood the depth of it until now. And now I hear a lot of people talking about how to manage the speed and timing of change, and how to prepare for when to invest in AI, maybe what data to expose, and how to balance the investments between automation and growth features when, in the end, you'll actually need the automation to be prepared to scale the use cases that you want to monetize. And then also, in addition to the uncertainty, I'd like to mention the optimism. There is a lot of optimism out there to be able to monetize the new type of services, particularly with the change. Of course, there are challenges, but then also a lot of opportunities to make changes.

James Pearce, TelecomTV (01:27):
That's really, really interesting. There's obviously been a high level of engagement and discussion among the participants today. Which themes or industry topics are emerging for you as the most prominent?

Sofia Isacsson, Ericsson (01:39):
Well, compared to last year's event, I would say it's a clear difference in the amount of people talking about AI and also being much more concrete in how and where in the network to implement it. Secondly, also many more concrete examples of differentiated connectivity launches and also talking with better maturity, I would say, in thinking about how to monetize them in a new way, rather than using the old way of selling — now talking much more about the value of the service that we're delivering.

James Pearce, TelecomTV (02:11):
Growth is obviously still a top priority for the network operators. It's an increasingly competitive and capital-intensive market as well. Where do you see the most compelling opportunities for CSPs to drive sustainable revenue growth over the next few years?

Sofia Isacsson, Ericsson (02:30):
Well, I do think we are underestimating the fact that AI is an exponential technology, and I don't think we're really yet prepared for the speed at which the AI traffic, use cases, new devices that are AI enabled, and so on, are going to pick up. So if you're going to have a sustainable business, you need to prepare for that. Then based on the optimism I've seen in the room today, I would definitely also have to mention differentiated connectivity, mainly targeting the enterprise segment. And with a little bit of a longer time horizon, maybe also mission-critical segments.

James Pearce, TelecomTV (03:07):
It's good that you mentioned mission-critical networks and defense capabilities especially. They're becoming increasingly important in the world today. How is Ericsson positioned to support these evolving requirements and what solutions are you bringing to the market?

Sofia Isacsson, Ericsson (03:18):
We have two solutions that are specifically targeted at the mission-critical segment. One is our Ultra Compact Core, which is a small locally deployable 5G Core solution, targeted at public safety and defense, which is what you asked about. But we also then have another solution called the Integrated Core Solution, which is slightly bigger, still full 5G Core, but more suitable for wide area network deployments. And then, of course, you can use our full Dual-Mode Core for certain specific larger cases.

James Pearce, TelecomTV (03:50):
Some of the key themes such as AI, automation and network resilience have been on the lips of everyone around here today. What strategic decisions do you think communication service providers should make today to ensure their networks are future-ready?

Sofia Isacsson, Ericsson (04:04):
Well, I would say only one thing: get started on your journey towards autonomous networks. Maybe you're uncertain of what to invest in and when to start investing, but if you don't start, you will not be ready in time. You need to just start trying and changing your processes, getting ready for in-service software upgrades, maybe optimization agents, and so on. All these things you will need to be ready to scale when AI takes off and other types of services too. And also you need to be prepared for the new types of security threats coming in the market. So get started — and that's why I think these events are great, because here you hear about others trying, failing, succeeding, and you learn and get inspired and you're better prepared basically.

James Pearce, TelecomTV (04:50):
There's been so much. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak to us today.

Sofia Isacsson, Ericsson (04:54):
Thank you.