Samsung Electronics strikes a deal with US Cellular, U.S. fifth biggest cellular network provider, expanding its wings on the US market. The South Korean company to supply 5G and 4G mobile telecommunication equipment.
As the global commercialization of 5G is taking place this year, competition for the 5G network equipment provider tightens. Samsung Electronic focuses on the market based on U.S and South Korea. While Huawei, under sanction of U.S. trade ban, focuses on the Chinese and European Market.
Samsung will supply various 5G solutions, including 5G integrated base station and 4G telecommunication equipment to US Cellular
A 5G integrated base station is a product that combines wireless and digital communication. It can be easily installed on streetlights, walls of buildings, and can also reduce the cost of selling optical cables. Samsung Electronics will support communication speeds of up to 10Gbps with its own 5G modem chip for base stations.
With the signing of the contract with US Cellular, Samsung Electronics will supply 5G in the U.S. with a total of four telecommunication businesses. Including Burizon, AT&T, Sprint, and US Cellular. The four carriers cover 80 percent of all U.S. mobile phone subscribers.
In addition to supplying 5G equipment to South Korea’s SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus, Samsung Electronics also signed a $2 billion contract with Japan’s second-largest telecommunication company KDDI last October. In December, two months later, the company announced that it will supply 4G LTE-A and 5G telecommunication solutions to Canada’s wired and wireless telecommunication service provider Videotron.
Early this year, it acquired Teleworld Solutions, a company that specializes in designing and optimizing 5G network in the U.S.. It is to more actively target North American markets. Teleworld Solutions is responsible for enhancing the competitiveness of Samsung Electronics’ 5G telecommunication equipment. So it provides services to secure 5G coverage at maximum efficiency.
Meanwhile the attention is also focused on its competition with Huawei. Currently, Huawei is world’s No. 1 supplier of telecommunication equipment.
Huawei is expanding its supply contract centering on the European market to avoid U.S. sanctions. The company said it has signed more than 91 contracts to commercialize 5G so far. Huawei also announced its “5G Partner Innovation Program,” which will invest $20 million in developing innovative 5G applications over the next five years.
