Samsung moving aggressively into US 5G market

Kim Young-ki, head of Samsung Electronics' network business division, shows the firm's 5G network gear in a press conference at the tech firm's headquarters in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, July 13. / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics

By Jun Ji-hye

Samsung Electronics has established a strong presence in the U.S. fifth-generation (5G) network equipment market by clinching a series of supply deals with AT&T and other American mobile carriers.

On Monday, AT&T said Samsung Electronics, Ericsson and Nokia will supply its 5G network equipment, without disclosing financial details or how much equipment each of the three suppliers will supply.

Two other leading wireless network operators in the United States, Verizon and Sprint, have also selected Samsung along with Ericsson and Nokia.

FierceWireless, a U.S. media company specializing in telecommunications, said the latest news “indicates that Samsung continues to make inroads into the U.S. network equipment market.”

According to market research firm Dell'Oro Group, Samsung is placed at the No.3 position among suppliers of radio access network gear in the United States after Ericsson and Nokia.

AT&T plans to introduce mobile 5G in parts of five additional cities _ Houston, Jacksonville, Louisville, New Orleans and San Antonio _ this year. These new cities are in addition to seven cities where the firm already announced plans to launch mobile 5G this year _ Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Indianapolis, Oklahoma City, Raleigh and Waco.

Samsung's equipment complies with the latest standard specification for 5G New Radio (5G-NR), issued by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) in June.

Samsung said it will also provide 5G-ready Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) compliant radios and base station equipment for AT&T's CBRS innovative spectrum band, which allows both licensed and shared access that helps enable efficient use of finite spectrum resources.

“We are excited to build upon our relationship with AT&T with this commercial agreement to bring our newest 5G-ready CBRS system to their network,” said Wilf Norrlinger, vice president of networks division at Samsung Electronics America. “Samsung is a big believer in using LTE-based technologies and 5G innovation to expand broadband availability across the U.S., and we look forward to playing a central role in accelerating this evolution.”

Mark Louison, senior vice president and general manager of networks division at Samsung Electronics America, also said, “5G will ultimately deliver unprecedented user experiences and business models that require ground-breaking solutions, along with the exploration of new spectrum bands such as mmWave.”

In January, Samsung Electronics signed a deal with Verizon to supply equipment for long-term evolution (LTE) and 5G networks, expanding its presence in the United States.

In May, the Korean company inked a supply deal with Sprint.

Samsung is also seeking to supply its 5G equipment to Korean mobile carriers that are working to begin the world's first 5G commercial services in March.