August 6, 2015, 20:30 (CEST)

• Ericsson to acquire the assets of Guatemala-based Icon Americas, a consulting and systems integration company
• Approximately 250 employees and consultants are expected to join Ericsson
• Acquisition boosts Ericsson's services portfolio in Latin America - particularly in application development and maintenance

Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) intends to acquire the assets of Icon Americas, a Guatemala-based consulting and systems integration company. Icon Americas specializes in providing application development and maintenance (ADM) services - specifically in the area of billing and charging - to leading telecom operators. Approximately 250 employees and consultants are expected to join Ericsson.

The acquisition - which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2015, subject to customary closing conditions - expands Ericsson's comprehensive portfolio of consulting and systems integration services and OSS/BSS solutions in Latin America.

In particular, Ericsson will benefit from the Icon Americas employees' experience of working with telecom customers in the region.

Sergio Quiroga da Cunha, Head of Ericsson Region Latin America and Caribbean, says: "IT services is an area of strategic importance to Ericsson - not just in Latin America but globally. The acquisition of Icon Americas will improve our ability to provide IT and ADM services to customers in Latin America, thereby strengthening our end-to-end position in OSS/BSS."

Hugo Cruz, Founder and CEO of Icon Americas, says: "We are excited to be joining the Ericsson team as its global scale and presence enable us to apply our expertise to a much wider range of customers."

Ericsson aims to be the leading provider of ICT services and solutions. Over the years, Ericsson has made a number of strategic acquisitions in order to boost its IT services capabilities and broaden its software portfolio. The Icon Americas acquisition will enable Ericsson to address ICT opportunities in Latin America.

Ericsson's global services offerings and broad software portfolio support our customers' efforts to transform their operations and IT environments, improving the user experience, increasing efficiency and enabling service innovation. Ericsson has 16,000 consulting and systems integration professionals who together deliver more than 1,500 consulting, systems integration and learning services projects in multi-vendor and multi-technology environments each year.