Samsung gets 5G supplier thumbs up from Verizon

It has been a good welcome back to the office for Samsung Electronics America after it has been picked by Verizon one of its suppliers for commercial 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) network solutions.

The first project for the pair will be over in Sacramento, where Verizon plans to launch commercial 5G services during the second half of 2018. This certainly isn’t the first tie up between the pair, but confirmation of supplier status is a credential which Samsung will be able to flaunt in marketing materials with Mobile World Congress fast approaching.

“The industry has been discussing 5G connectivity for years, and through our joint collaboration with partners like Samsung, we are beginning to make it a reality for our customers,” said Ed Chan, Chief Technology Architect and Network Planning at Verizon. “Sacramento is an ideal place to begin deploying 5G broadband services, providing a progressive environment for creating future use cases.”

“Together with Verizon, we have explored the vast potential of 5G through market trials across the U.S.,” said Mark Louison, GM of the Networks Division at Samsung Electronics America. “At the same time, Samsung applied lessons learned from these real-world trials to ensure that our complete end-to-end 5G portfolio is ready for commercial service. We are delighted to work with Verizon on this journey to create unprecedented user experiences powered by 5G.”

As part of the agreement, Samsung will supply Verizon with 5G home routers (CPEs), 5G Radio Access Units (RAN) comprised of a compact radio base station and virtualized RAN elements, as well as 5G radio frequency planning services.

While this is certainly a good boost for Samsung, the pair have been working throughout 2017 to conduct field trials in various markets throughout the US. Some of these trials focused on using millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequency to provide FWA pre-commercial service, while the pair was also able to reach the 19th floor of a multi-dwelling unit with a single 5G radio.

Expect a lot of these announcements over the next couple of weeks as the hype towards MWC builds, and telcos get closer to the reality of commercial 5G services in the latter part of the year.