Mobile telephony
Under the command of Ericsson Radio Systems present CEO Lars Ramqvist, a new joint venture company was formed together with General Electric July 1, 1989, under the name Ericsson GE Mobile Communications. The company consisted of all mobile phone activity of both companies in Sweden and USA. Ericsson owned 60% of the company, and General Electric owned 40%. In this fusion GE contributed, among other things, a factory of some 1,600 employees in Lynchburg, Virginia. Ericsson Radio Systems former CEO Åke Lundqvist moved to the US as CEO for the new company, which also controlled the mobile handset activities in Kumla and the research facility in Lund. Mobile telephony, at this time, constituted 14% of the billing in the business unit for radio communications at Ericsson.