If this was true then we would have seen similar layoffs between UMTS(3G) and LTE(4G) and between LTE and 5G. Is there any evidence of that? Also Telcos around the world are still rolling out 5G and much of the tech's promise of Edge Computing have not yet been deployed or realized.
>"The company faces mounting competition from China’s Huawei and Finland’s Nokia as well as weak emerging markets and falling spending by telecoms operators with demand for next-generation 5G technology still years away."
The layoffs are attributed to three things:
1. Competition
2. A slump in investment in emerging markets.
3. Falling spending(it's not clear from the press relase if that was just spending for Ericsson's gear.)
Additionally there was no global Telecom industry slump in 2016. Just in the US alone it was something of a boom year with lots of activity. See: