SEOUL, Korea – April 9, 2019 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., today announced that it has delivered the largest share of 5G network solutions in Korea, making it the leading 5G network vendor in the country. 5G service is now commercially available to consumers and enterprises from all three mobile carriers in 85 cities across the country. 

Korean operators have been transmitting 5G signals in Seoul and metropolitan areas since December 1, 2018 using 5G base station radios and 5G core solutions from Samsung’s Networks Business unit. To further expand the 5G network, Samsung has supplied 5G core solutions and more than 53,000 5G radio base stations to Korea’s three operators.

“Korea is one of the first markets in the world in which the 5G experience is opening up for consumers, and we’re thrilled to play a key role in the nationwide rollout of 5G with our unparalleled 5G network solutions,” said Paul Kyungwhoon Cheun, Executive Vice President and Head of Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “As a longstanding innovator in the 5G space and one of the few vendors offering a full end-to-end 5G solution, Samsung is at the forefront of pushing the limits of 5G and beyond.”

5G Massive MIMO Unit (3.5GHz)

5G Massive MIMO Unit (3.5GHz)

Korean operators rolled out their commercial 5G networks using Samsung’s 5G Massive-MIMO Unit (MMU) radio base station in the 3.5GHz spectrum. A key characteristic of Samsung’s MMUs deployed in Korea is that they are among the smallest and lightest in the industry, ensuring they can be easily installed in existing operators’ cellular sites, requiring minimal changes. This ability to re-use existing sites has been key to enabling the Korean operators to deploy a 5G network consisting of tens of thousands of radios within just a few months since the December 1st launch. 

The virtualized 5G core solutions, provided to all three Korean operators for their 5G commercial launch, support both legacy 4G networks and next-generation 5G services in Non-Standalone (NSA) mode. They can also migrate to Standalone (SA) mode through a simple software upgrade in the future. Samsung’s solution implements many of the key technologies of 5G networks, such as Control and User Plane Separation (CUPS), which are essential for network operators to scale their networks and support the new services enabled by 5G technology.

“Korea has long been regarded as a leader when it comes to mobile technology and service adoption, and it is a market that other operators and vendors follow closely,” said Daryl Schoolar, Practice Leader for Service Provider Technologies at Ovum. “Samsung’s significant role in helping all three Korean mobile operators roll out their commercial 5G networks gives the vendor significant credibility as it looks to expand its 5G network solutions into other markets around the globe.”