DT and Samsung flirt with each other over standalone 5G

As Deutsche Telekom’s reliance on Huawei kit increasingly looks like a precarious position, it has taken to playing the field.

Its current squeeze is Korean tech giant Samsung, with the two of them having recently spent a romantic weekend in the city of Pilsen, Czech Republic. After a few lagers, one thing led to another and before they knew it they were making sweet, sweet 5G. Specifically they consummated their first trial of standalone 5G radio kit.

“We are pleased to collaborate with Samsung to verify the performance of its 5G SA solution,” said Alex Choi, SVP Strategy & Technology Innovation, Deutsche Telekom. “Together with strong partners we are consistently introducing advanced technical capabilities into our network, and we are very excited about the potential of 5G SA networks to further accelerate the 5G evolution.”

“Samsung is glad to successfully conduct the first Massive MIMO call on an end-to-end 5G architecture within the DT Group in Europe,” said WooJune Kim, Executive Vice President, Head of Global Sales & Marketing, Networks Business at Samsung. “This is an important milestone in both companies’ efforts to bring 5G to the next phase. Leveraging Samsung’s technical capabilities, DT will provide the ability of 5G to deliver unprecedented values to users.”

Pleased and glad, but not excited. As first dates go that one seems to have been a bit flat. But with DT rapidly running out of alternatives to long-time partner Huawei, it may have to settle for Samsung regardless. Perhaps this video, in which Samsung promises to satisfy operators with its massive MIMO, will spice things up a bit.