Ericsson has signed agreements for credit facilities worth $370 million to support R&D activities to develop 5G and other mobile innovations.

Ericsson will receive $220 million credit from the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) and $150 million loan from Svensk Exportkredit (SEK). The $220 million loan will be maturing in 2023, and $150 million will be maturing in 2025. Of these new funds, $98 million will replace credit with NIB that was set to mature in 2019.

The loan facility will assist Ericsson to expand its innovation in 5G area. The Sweden-based Ericsson said 38 leading mobile operators are working with the telecom equipment maker on developing and preparing for 5G networks.

“As part of our focused strategy we are increasing our investments to secure technology leadership in 5G, IoT and digital services. We have 38 mobile operators engaged with us on developing and preparing for 5G networks. This is more than any other company,” said Erik Ekudden, chief technology officer of Ericsson.

“In the coming years, we will see 5G networks going live around the world, with major deployments from 2020 and we believe that there will be one billion 5G subscriptions by the end of 2023,” Erik Ekudden said.

Ericsson invested SEK 31.6 billion in R&D in 2016. Ericsson is the key contributor in the development of open telecom standards, with some 42,000 patents held by end of 2016.