Report: Samsung Leads Worldwide 5G Network Market

In a recently published study of the Mobile RAN market by Dell’Oro Group[1] — a trusted source for market information about the telecommunications, networks, and data center IT industries — Samsung Electronics recorded a 5G RAN revenue market share of 37% for the combined 4Q 2018 and 1Q 2019 periods. According to Dell’Oro, this places Samsung in the lead for the 5G New Radio (NR) RAN market by revenue share for the two combined quarters.

The report, “Mobile RAN Quarterly Report” for Q1 2019, states that 5G NR has accelerated at a faster-than-expected pace, with 5G NR already comprising 5 to 10% of the overall RAN market in the first quarter. Moreover, Dell’Oro estimates suggest that Massive MIMO technology accounted for more than 80% of 5G NR revenues, both in 4Q 2018 and 1Q 2019.

By achieving the highest share of revenue in the 5G NR RAN market for the first quarter of 2019, this marks the second consecutive quarter of Samsung leadership in the 5G arena.

Additionally, Samsung gained the largest growth increase in RAN revenue share quarter over quarter amongst top vendors within the overall RAN market. Samsung’s RAN revenue increased 13.5% from 4Q 2018 to 1Q 2019.

Samsung has deployed its 5G Massive MIMO Unit (MMU) radio base stations in the Korean 5G market using 3.5GHz spectrum. A key characteristic of Samsung MMUs is that they are among the smallest and lightest in the industry, ensuring they can be easily installed in an operator’s existing cellular sites with minimal changes. The ability to re-use existing sites is key to enabling Korean operators to deploy a 5G network consisting of tens of thousands of radios within just a few months. In markets including the U.S., Samsung has also been active in deploying 5G NR networks in both sub-6 GHz and mmWave spectrum.

For more information about Samsung’s 5G MMU innovations visit:  https://www.samsung.com/global/business/networks/products/radio-access/massive-mimo-unit/.

[1] Published May 14, 2019