Samsung Networks, Samsung Electronics' arm that develops networking solutions, announced today that it is helping Vodafone accelerate its 5G network expansion in Germany and Spain while enhancing its 5G networks in the UK. The mobile network carrier will use Samsung's 5G Open RAN infrastructure for improved performance and efficiency.
Their collaboration on 5G networks first started with the launch of the 5G Open RAN site in Bath in the UK, which used Samsung's vRAN infrastructure. The South Korean firm says its 5G infrastructure exceeds the target performance level and power savings.
Samsung's 64T64R Massive MIMO radios have been successfully integrated with 5G vRAN to carry commercial data traffic. The companies recently completed a data call using Samsung's vRAN and NEC's Massive MIMO radio on Vodafone's 5G network. This shows how multi-vendor infrastructure can be used with 5G Open RAN, even with more complex Massive MIMO radios.
Vodafone will use Samsung's 2G/4G vRAN with Open RAN-compliant solutions in Germany. It will also use Samsung's network solutions for enhanced performance, stability, and reliability. Samsung also joined Vodafone's 5G testbed in Ciudad Real, where solutions from mature RAN providers are compared across both traditional and Open RAN.
Santiago Tenorio, Director of Network Architecture for Vodafone, said, “As we grow and scale our network, we are excited to jointly drive collaborative Open RAN innovation and continue our groundbreaking work with Samsung. We look forward to continue bringing fundamental improvements to our wide-scale next-generation network to further accelerate our open network approach for 5G expansion across Europe.“
