Tantra Analyst

Samsung focuses on vRAN/Open RAN coalition, CBRS private networks

Samsung Networks’ news cycle started weeks before the much-awaited Mobile World Congress 2022, making its mark in Europe. The cycle continued, with many more announcements coming right before, during and after the event. The notable ones were: building a solid coalition to streamline virtualized RAN (vRAN) and open RAN, expansion into the red-hot private networks domain and traction in public safety deployments.

All this point to Samsung Networks evolving from its initial disruptor role to a market and thought leadership role, tracking the trajectory I had detailed last year in this article.

Building comprehensive, interoperable vRAN/open RAN ecosystem

As I had explained in my recent Forbes article, the biggest challenge of new architectures like vRAN and open RAN is stitching together a system with disparate pieces from many different companies. Most of these pieces, by definition, are generic and off-the-shelf (COTS – Commercial Off the Shelf). In such case, it is an arduous task for operators and system integrators to ensure these pieces interwork seamlessly and operate as a single system. Moreover, this system has to meet and exceed the performance of legacy architectures. Understanding this challenge, Samsung Networks is taking charge to innovate and build a comprehensive ecosystem of vRAN/open RAN players with fully interoperable solutions.

An announced coalition consists of well-known brands with a proven track record. It has cloud infra players such as Dell and HPE, chipset giants such as Intel, and cloud software platform players such as Red Hat and Wind River. I wouldn’t be surprised if the roster grows with additional partners such as Qualcomm, Marvel and hyperscalers in the near future.

The primary objective of the coalition is to develop fully interoperable, deployment-ready, pre-tested, and pre-integrated vRAN and Open RAN solutions. Anybody who has done system integration knows that even though, in theory, standards-compliant products should interwork, during actual deployments, nasty surprises always spring up. This collaboration is designed to remove that exact element of surprise and make deployments seamless, predictable, and cost-effective.

By joining hands with Samsung Networks, all these players who are leaders in their respective domains have recognized the leadership and growing influence of the company.

CBRS and Private Networks deployments

Private Networks have attracted a lot of attention lately. There has been much news regarding deployment plans, commitments, and trials. Samsung Networks was among the first to deploy an actual commercial Private Network on the campus of Howard University.

On the second day of MWC, Samsung Networks announced that NTT East selected it as the partner for Private Network deployments in the eastern region of Japan. This followed successful completion of 5G Standalone (SA) network testing by both the companies. 5G SA is a crucial feature for Private Networks, especially for delivering massive IoT and mission-critical services to enterprises, large industries, and others.

In the USA, CBRS shared spectrum is touted as the ticket to Private Networks. After a somewhat slow start, CBRS deployments have been picking up pace in the last couple of years. During MWC, Samsung announced a collaboration with Avista Edge Inc, for an interesting use case of the CBRS spectrum. Avista Edge is a last-mile, fixed wireless access (FWA) technology provider, with an innovative approach to delivering broadband. As part of the deal, Avista Edge will offer broadband services to rural communities through electric utilities and Internet Service Providers. Samsung will provide its On-Go Alliance certified Massive MIMO radios and compact core network to Avista Edge.

Right after MWC, Samsung also announced another CBRS deal—with Mercury Broadband in collaboration with t3 Broadband. Mercury Broadband is a rural broadband provider, and t3 Broadband is an engineering services company. Samsung will provide its 6T64R Massive MIMO radios and baseband units for more than 500 FWA sites across Kansas, Missouri, and Indiana. The network is expected to expand to additional states through 2025.

Public safety partnership and new mmWave use case

Samsung Networks and the Canadian operator TELUS announced the country’s first Mission Critical Push-to-X (MCPTX) deployment, serving first responders, public safety workers, and others. It will be deployed over TELUS’s 4G and 5G networks and has already been trialed with select customers. The broader commercial availability is expected in the for later part 2022.

Samsung Networks’ MCPTX solution packs a comprehensive suite of tools, offering: real-time audio and video communication between the first responders, priority access in congested networks during natural disasters, connected ambulances, and vehicular traffic controls.

In an interesting use case of mmWave, Samsung Networks signed a deal with all three Korean operators to provide a high capacity mmWave backhaul to the subway Wi-Fi system in Seoul. Seoul is one of the highly connected cities in the world, and data consumption continues to grow. The system will provide high capacity backhaul to Wi-Fi Access Points in the subway stations and trains, allowing users to enjoy extreme speeds, capacity, and better broadband experience while in transit. This set-up was successfully trialed in September 2021.

In closing

After impressive 5G rollouts in the USA over the years, including its most recent Verizon C-band deployment, Samsung Networks is set to establish a solid foothold in Europe. Further, it is becoming a recognized leader in vRAN/Open RAN, and is widening its appeal to rural players and private network providers around the globe.

Its announcements at MWC 2022 provided solid proof of its expansion strategy and early success. I’ll be interested to see how Samsung Network grows and tracks the trajectory outlined in my 2021 article.

Prakash Sangam is the founder and principal at Tantra Analyst, a leading boutique research and advisory firm. He is a recognized expert in 5G, Wi-Fi, AI, Cloud and IoT. To read articles like this and get an up-to-date analysis of the latest mobile and tech industry news, sign-up for our monthly newsletter at TantraAnalyst.com/Newsletter, or listen to our Tantra’s Mantra podcast.