Vonage Channel Leader: Ericsson's Acquisition Opens Opportunities for Partners

Late last week Swedish telecom-equipment giant Ericsson completed its acquisition of Vonage Holdings Corp. for $6.2 billion.

The deal means Ericsson will provide UCaaS and CCaaS solutions as part of the cloud-based Vonage Communications Platform. It serves more than 120,000 customers and more than 1 million registered developers globally.

Ericsson’s Börje Ekholm

Börje Ekholm is Ericsson’s president and CEO. Last November, when first announcing the acquisition, he said Vonage gives Ericsson a platform to help its customers monetize the investments in its network. This benefits developers and business, Ekholm said.

“Imagine putting the power and capabilities of 5G, the biggest global innovation platform, at the fingertips of developers. Then back it with Vonage’s advanced capabilities in a world of 8 billion connected devices. Today we are making that possible.”

Partner Advantage?

Mejeticks’ Robert DeVita

Robert DeVita is founder and CEO of Mejeticks. From a partner perspective, he doesn’t see any big changes happening quickly.

“I believe Vonage will continue to be run as a standalone business. I see this acquisition as a positive for Vonage as it will bring deeper pockets from Ericsson to help them to continue to accelerate their UCaaS and CCaaS platforms,” DeVita said. “As far as synergies between Vonage and Ericsson, I think this is a wait and see. I’m not fully sold on the 5G play with UCaaS and CCaaS that was mentioned in the initial press release of the acquisition. I do see positive signs on the API development for applications into the Vonage Cloud, but it is too early to tell how beneficial they will be to customers.”

With all this talk of technological advances, there is one outstanding business question, however. What does this deal mean financially for channel partners?

Vonage’s Jim Regan

Jim Regan is channel chief at Vonage. In this Q&A with Channel Futures (see slideshow above), Regan addresses that concern, stating that “Ericsson will invest in the continued growth of Vonage’s strong business and develop new offerings to create value on top of their network.”