Ericsson, a world leader in communications technology and service, works in 180 countries and employs more than 111,000 experts in line with its vision of “the Networked Society". Ericsson's services, software, and infrastructure – particularly in mobility, broadband, and the cloud – enable the telecoms industry and other sectors to conduct better business, increase efficiency, improve user experience, and capture new opportunities. Ericsson combines global scale with technology and services leadership and supports networks that connect more than 2.5 billion subscribers. 40 percent of the world's mobile traffic is carried over Ericsson's networks.
In operation since 1876, L.M. Ericsson made its first investment in the Turkish market in 1890 by installing the telephone line, which is still operating today, in Dolmabahçe Palace. In 1925, Ericsson, the first 100 percent foreign capital company in Türkiye, opened its Izmir Exchange Station with the capacity to serve 2,416 subscribers. Over the years the company expanded its business activities in Türkiye to also cover neighboring countries.
Looking to increase its R&D investments in Türkiye, Ericsson first acquired 100 percent of technology company Bizitek in 2008. Later, by incorporating ST-Ericsson, it founded the Ericsson Microelectronics R&D center. In 2012, all R&D activities were incorporated under Ericsson Research, Development, and Informatics Inc.
Ericsson Türkiye's R&D team, consisting of more than 550 R&D and technical support employees based in its Istanbul and İzmir locations, provides services through innovative activities in various fields of information and telecoms technologies. In those centers, more than 125 R&D projects, 20 of which are supported by TÜBİTAK, are being implemented. Ericsson Türkiye participates in many international R&D projects together with SMEs and universities in Türkiye, sharing its R&D know-how with the local ecosystem. As of 2017, Ericsson Türkiye has delivered its products developed in its R&D centers to more than 30 countries.
In 2012, Ericsson Türkiye ranked first in a total of seven categories in the Informatics 500, which listed the top 500 companies in the Turkish informatics sector. In addition, in 2014 and 2015, Ericsson Türkiye ranked second in the “Great Places to Work" competition in the category of companies with 500-2,000 employees. Ericsson Türkiye was also recognized as the leader in R&D Export and University-Industry Cooperation in 2015 and in R&D Revenue and R&D Export in 2016 by Istanbul Technical University's technopark, Arı Teknokent.
In the Networked Society, Ericsson is the leading advocate of Technology for Good. It is a concept that Ericsson works with every day to address areas such as climate change, poverty, education, health, human rights, and humanitarian issues such as peace and disaster response. In Türkiye, this work includes, but is not limited to, Ericsson's Employee Volunteer Program, which gives every employee in Türkiye the right to carry out a volunteer activity linked to Technology for Good for a guaranteed minimum of one work day per year. Via this program, employees may also enroll in Ericsson's global disaster relief initiative, Ericsson Response. Since the launch of Ericsson Response in 2000, hundreds of employees have supported over 40 humanitarian relief efforts in 30 countries.