The one product Ericsson is discontinuing as part of this revamp is the consumer Money Service it launched last year in an effort to stimulate the mobile commerce sector in Europe. Now the company believes it is better positioned to help other companies provide such services. (See Ericsson Launches Money Service .)

Why this matters
The move marks the further evolution of the company to focus on a smaller number of key areas. Ericsson's CMO Arun Bhikshesvaran told the London media briefing that the company would be focusing its attention on mobile broadband, managed services and OSS/BSS at Mobile World Congress. (That, of course, makes its core focus areas pretty much the same as Nokia Siemens Networks -- see Analysts: NSN Focus Makes Sense.)

The increased focus on OSS and BSS was expected following the Telcordia deal as the acquisition has made Ericsson one of the largest Service Provider Information Technology (SPIT) players globally. Now it can start sending that message to the operator community and look to develop business deals that encompass physical networks, supporting software and IT technologies and relevant professional services. (See Ericsson + Telcordia: What the Analysts Say and Why Ericsson Wants Telcordia .)

However, there are still a lot of loose ends and Bhikshesvaran said there were still some parts of BUSS that could still be shifted into either the Networks or Global Services business units.

And while its areas of key focus may be very similar to those of NSN, Ericsson has not (yet) decided to follow its rival's lead by culling non-core product lines. (See NSN Unveils Its Kill List .)

Light Reading asked about the company's fixed-line broadband and optical transport assets that have hardly ever been mentioned by Ericsson since the Marconi acquisition: Bhikshesvaran said they are "alive and kicking … we need to talk more about that." (See Ericsson Buys Bulk of Marconi.)

And there is still no real articulation of Ericsson's carrier cloud strategy: What can it do to help operators become cloud services players? Bhikshesvaran said the company will reveal its cloud enablement strategy at Mobile World Congress and doesn't believe Ericsson is too late in revealing its hand. "You have to come out with the right thing … we will take the cloud and the network to the next level." (See What Carriers Are Missing About Cloud and 5 Takeaways From Carrier Cloud Forum.)

For more on Ericsson's recent activities:

• eAccess Combines 3G/LTE With Ericsson
  
• Ericsson Ousted From Shared Network
  
• Ericsson Suffers Margin Crunch
  
• ZTE, Ericsson End Patent Dispute
  
• Analyst Acclaims New Ericsson CTO
  
• Ericsson Puts Focus on IPR Licensing
  
• Euronews: Ericsson Shrinks Its Top Team
  
• Bharti Airtel Expands With Ericsson

— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading