Sweden bans Ericsson from supplying equipment to Russia, 27 September 2023

Ericsson is no longer able to supply equipment to Russia due to a ban imposed by the Swedish authorities, according to a court ruling on a lawsuit filed by mobile operator Tele2 against Satel TVK LLC, the company that supplied the equipment from the manufacturer. Russian websites write about this.

Ericsson AB, a Swedish company, is legally prohibited from exporting its products to Satel TVK and any other buyer in Russia, according to documents in the case. On November 9, 2022, Tele2 filed a lawsuit against Ericsson demanding the supply of equipment under the agreement of July 30, 2014, payment of a penalty of €4.1 million, as well as recovery of an attorney’s fee for failure to comply with the court order. The operator entered into an agreement with Russian telecom company Satel TVK to supply both Ericsson base stations for 2G, 3G and 4G networks and software that manages this equipment. From May 2021 to February 2022. Tele2 has placed 20 orders for the supply of equipment, of which five were late, six were partially fulfilled and nine were not fulfilled at all. For some reason, this outrages the Russians.

By 2023, the operator planned to install 50 thousand units in 27 regions of Russia. 5G-enabled base stations, which would allow it to increase data transfer speeds and prepare its networks for the launch of fifth-generation communications services. In an effort to fulfill its obligations, Ericsson applied to the Swedish Strategic Products Inspectorate for a supply permit on March 16 and April 13, 2022. The agency authorized the delivery of software and technical support until the end of 2022, and in terms of equipment, the requests remained pending until May 11, 2023, when they were denied. In this regard, the court declared the Swedish party’s obligations null and void.

The court rejected Tele2’s request to oblige the defendant to deliver the equipment, but agreed to collect a penalty for late deliveries. A similar decision was made on August 31, 2023: €490,671 was collected from Satel TVK as a penalty, while the rest of the claims against the Russian company and Sweden’s Ericsson were dismissed; on September 12, the amount was reduced to €380,105.