Samsung Introduces New Massive MIMO Radio, Expanding Its Mid-Band Portfolio

Samsung brings together C-Band and CBRS in one Massive MIMO radio, simplifying mid-band rollouts and boosting network capacity

Samsung Electronics today unveiled a new addition to its Massive MIMO portfolio — the C-Band/CBRS Dual-band 16T16R Massive MIMO Radio. The new radio is the industry’s first dual-band solution supporting both C-Band and Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) bands in one unit. This provides a ‘one box’ solution that gives mobile operators a simplified way to support two mid-band spectrums that are essential to driving the next generation of network evolution and 5G expansion.

C-Band spectrum (3.7GHz to 3.98GHz) is used in deployments to boost overall 5G capabilities, access and coverage, while CBRS (3.55GHz to 3.7GHz) opens new opportunities, such as powering private enterprise networks or bringing broadband to underserved areas. By using a dual-band radio, mobile operators no longer need to deploy two radios to provide the benefits of C-Band and CBRS. This helps reduce an operator’s footprint and lower energy consumption, while simplifying installation and operation.

The dual-band radio brings significant benefits to radio innovation. It is ultra-lightweight and compact — weighing approximately 14kg (30lbs). Plus, it is equipped with Samsung’s in-house built chipset, bringing greater flexibility by supporting 350MHz of bandwidth covering both C-Band and CBRS spectrums. Leveraging the wide bandwidth support, operators can aggregate these spectrum bands to maximize network capacity to handle high user demands.

C-Band/CBRS Dual-band 16T16R Massive MIMO Radio

“C-Band and CBRS are mid-band sweet spots that provide a perfect combination of coverage and capacity for 5G services. We are excited to introduce our latest addition to our Massive MIMO radios portfolio, a multi-band radio that offers unprecedented compactness and is lightweight,” said Wonil Roh, Senior Vice President and Head of Product Strategy, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “We are proud to expand our mid-band solutions lineup to offer flexibility and maximized network capacity to operators, and we plan to continue building optimized 5G solutions to bring the best possible value to our customers.”

vRAN Integration

This new dual-band Massive MIMO radio also integrates with Samsung’s virtualized Radio Access Network (vRAN), offering greater agility to operators. By replacing dedicated baseband hardware with software elements, vRAN offers more deployment flexibility, greater scalability and improved resource efficiency in network operation. Samsung vRAN offers features and performance that are equivalent to traditional hardware-based equipment, while covering both low- and mid-band spectrums, as well as indoor and outdoor solutions. Samsung is the only major network vendor to have commercially deployed its vRAN to operators across Asia, Europe and North America.

The new radio is part of Samsung’s comprehensive portfolio of solutions for C-Band and CBRS, which include best-in-class radios that are already commercially deployed in North America. The new C-Band/CBRS Dual-band 16T16R Massive MIMO Radio will be commercially available in the second half of 2022.

Samsung has pioneered the successful delivery of 5G end-to-end infrastructure solutions including chipsets, radios and core. Through ongoing research and development, Samsung drives the industry to advance 5G networks with its market-leading product portfolio from fully virtualized RAN and Core to private network solutions and AI-powered automation tools. The company is currently providing network solutions to mobile operators that deliver connectivity to hundreds of millions of users around the world.