What’s up with… Ericsson, HPE, GSMA

• Arun Bansal moves up the stack at Ericsson
• HPE adds ESP to Aruba (we should have seen that coming)
• Embattled GSMA cuts jobs

A senior promotion at Ericsson and some AI action at HPE lead the way as we take a quick spin around the latest news circuit.

• Ericsson has named Arun Bansal as its second Executive VP, sharing that elevated responsibility with Fredrik Jejdling, the vendor’s Head of Business Area Networks. Bansal, among the more straight-talking executives in the industry, retains his position as Head of Market Area Europe & Latin America. Who will be the first to shorten the odds on him becoming the next CEO? Moving on… The Swedish vendor has also announced two customer engagements: A 5G network expansion deal with O2 UK, with which it will also be developing an “innovation cluster”; and a MINI-LINK microwave gear deal with MTS Russia. 
• HPE has unveiled Aruba ESP, which it describes as an “AI-powered, cloud-native platform that predicts and resolves problems at the network edge.” It has also announced enhancements to its Primera and Nimble Storage solutions as part an update to its Intelligent Data Platform proposition.
• The GSMA is cutting about 20% of its staff, about 200 jobs, as it reduces costs following the cancellation of MWC2020 and the resulting financial hit, reports Bloomberg. The industry body believes it will take at least three years to recover from the impact of cancelling the telecom sector's biggest trade show.
• Vodafone has once again warned of the negative impact of kicking Huawei out of the UK, reports Reuters.
• Mobile operator US Cellular has joined the Open RAN Policy Coalition, saying it will help to “promote policies that allow new technologies to thrive, while ensuring interoperability and security with a diverse group of suppliers to deliver high-quality network service to customers.” The focus of the coalition, which has more than 30 members, is very much on strengthening the role of the US in the 5G market and beyond.
• South Korea, regarded as the world’s leading 5G market by research house Omdia, had about 7 million 5G users at the end of May, reports the Korean Herald.
• Following the Telxius news earlier this week, there's more neutral network infrastructure M&A action, as private equity firm Ardian is reportedly leading a consortium that plans to buy a stake in Telecom Italia’s mobile towers unit, INWIT. 
• Mobile operator Far EasTone, IT hardware manufacturer Delta Electronics and Microsoft Taiwan have joined forces to set up Taiwan's first 5G-enabled pilot smart manufacturing plant at Delta's production complex in Taoyuan, reports DigiTimes. Far EasTone is one of two operators to receive 5G licenses in Taiwan, the other being Chunghwa: Both want to launch services on July 1, reports Taiwan News.
• Chip tech specialist Arm appears to have big trouble in China, but there are conflicting reports about whether its CEO has been ousted or retained.
• Versa Networks has launched Versa Secure Access, designed to enable secure SD-WAN services and private connectivity for employees who are remote or working from home. 

- The staff, TelecomTV