Vodafone chooses Samsung's 5G network solutions in Britain

By Rachael Sharpe
last updated

Vodafone selects Samsung for Europe’s first wide-scale commercial deployment of Open RAN powered by vRAN.

London
(Image credit: Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay)

Samsung announced today that it has been selected as a leading Open RAN vendor for Vodafone. Samsung will bring virtualized Radio Access Network (vRAN) to the United Kingdom, as well as its latest 4G and 5G solutions, including its Massive MIMO and other radios.

Fully virtualised RAN

Samsung will supply its commercial vRAN solutions and O-RAN compliant radios, covering both low-band and mid-band spectrum, for the collaboration. Samsung’s fully virtualised RAN is software-based and runs on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) servers, offering features and performance that are equivalent to traditional hardware-based equipment. Using a cloud-native and container-based architecture, Samsung’s vRAN enables more flexible deployments and efficiency in network management for mobile operators.

“Fast and reliable connectivity for all.”

Johan Wibergh, Vodafone.

“Vodafone is committed to leading the next wave of digital transformation across Europe, ensuring fast and reliable connectivity for all,” said Johan Wibergh, Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone. “Open RAN, built on strong partnerships, is key to realising this ambition. Samsung’s innovative solutions and expertise are part of the foundation that is creating this network of the future,” he continued.

One of the key benefits of the architecture is its automation capabilities, which simplify end-to-end network management. With Samsung’s vRAN, operators can quickly meet the evolving demands of new and existing services with minimal impact on deployment. Samsung will also deliver to Vodafone UK its market leading O-RAN compliant 5G radios, including the latest Massive MIMO radios.

This collaboration with Vodafone marks a first for Samsung, as the company brings its cloud native virtualised RAN 5G technology to a leading operator’s network in Europe. Virtualised RAN and O-RAN technologies will be important to helping evolve network architectures to power the next generation of 5G applications and services. To this end, Samsung has been continuously leading in vRAN innovation, most recently showing the capability to support the multi-gigabit speeds of Massive MIMO radios on COTS servers.

“The first scaled deployment of our pioneering 5G technologies in Europe.”

Paul Kyungwhoon Cheun, Samsung.

“We are proud that this collaboration with Vodafone—one of the premier carriers in the world—will be the first scaled deployment of our pioneering 5G technologies in Europe, including vRAN and O-RAN,” said Paul Kyungwhoon Cheun, President and Head of Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “This is a major step forward, as more operators are transitioning into new RAN technologies to prioritize user experience and efficiency. We look forward to continue leading the way in 5G innovation to meet our customer’s highest standards of performance, functionality and reliability,” he concluded.


Rachael Sharpe
Rachael Sharpe

Rachael is a British journalist with 17 years experience in the publishing industry. Since launching www.digitalcameraworld.com, she’s been freelancing, and working for some of the world’s best-loved websites and magazines including T3.com and TechRadar.com and has also had a book, iPad for Photographers, published. A regular contributor at 5Gradar, Rachael is following the 5G market closely. Find out more at www.rachaelsharpe.com