Ericsson CTO says India poised to lead global rollout of agentic AI

Ericsson’s global chief technology officer Erik Ekkuden explained to Gulveen Aulakh that India is set to spearhead the worldwide adoption and democratization of agentic artificial intelligence, driven by its rapid 5G rollout and strong university and startup scene. He described how network APIs can deliver live data to financial institutions, enabling real-time fraud detection that combines Aadhaar, one outlet and other digital public infrastructure.

The Swedish firm plans to collaborate with Indian telecom service providers and local innovators to create solutions that can be scaled to markets such as Brazil, the US and Europe. Ekkuden also outlined Ericsson’s manufacturing footprint in Bengaluru, Chennai and the Delhi-NCR region, noting the export of millions of components and thousands of 5G antennas to Europe. He stressed that while India’s networks already support advanced features like slicing and AI-powered services, further development of a local supply-chain ecosystem is needed. Finally, he suggested that successful Indian pilots could serve as proof-of-concept for other large markets, leveraging the country’s scale and regulatory environment.