Following the recently signed agreement by the companies, the trial – which has already started the first week of February – will last for five months across multiple residences and offices in Milan, the second largest city in Italy.

In the first week of the trial – held on 26GHz of spectrum recently acquired by Fastweb during Italy’s 5G frequencies auction in October 2018 – download speeds reached 1 Gbps. The next steps of the trial will verify the effectiveness of 5G FWA networks concerning the cost and time for its deployment compared to conventional FTTH roll-out as well as potential operational challenges in the provision of the service to the end customers.

Samsung supplies Fastweb with an end-to-end 5G FWA solution that includes core, 5G Radio Access Units that leverages millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum to provide high-density coverage and ultra-high-bandwidth connectivity to 5G home routers (Indoor Customer Premise Equipment), installed in nearby homes or offices.

Samsung’s compact 5G Access Units are easy to rapidly deploy, while the CPE is self-installing. This gives 5G Fixed Wireless considerable advantages over comparable FTTH or FTTB (Fiber-to-the- Building) deployments in terms of service rollout times and costs to both the service provider and the subscriber. At the same time, the service is robust – able to deliver gigabit broadband speeds to neighbourhoods – and can very easily be extended to support new services in the future.

“We are excited to deliver the first 5G FWA end-to-end connectivity in Italy with Fastweb to bring the next generation speed to users,” said Paul Kyungwhoon Cheun, Executive Vice President and Head of Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “Samsung will work with Fastweb to turn the vast potentials of 5G FWA using 26GHz into true benefits for both customers and enterprises.”

“This trial has already confirmed the outstanding performances of 5G FWA and the capability of this technology to provide a “fiber-like” ultrabroadband service to families and business in areas not reached by FTTH. To accomplish our mission of addressing the market needs and enhancing user experience, we will leverage 5G FWA to expand the coverage of our proprietary ultra-broadband infrastructure,” said Alberto Calcagno, CEO Fastweb.

“We are confident that with this trial with Samsung, we can demonstrate both the technical and commercial feasibility of mmWave FWA in Italy.”

Fastweb is moving forward with these tests because Italy offers the ideal conditions for 5G FWA technology to power domestic broadband, thanks to fiber being widely available at cabinet level, making it easier to deploy antennas for 5G FWA at ideal distance from the buildings. Furthermore, TV antennas are pre-installed on 99 percent of the roofs, facilitating easy installation of additional equipment. After the tests are successful, Fastweb will usher in a new generation of connectivity to Italy.

About Fastweb

With 2.5 million wireline customers and 1.5 million mobile customers, Fastweb is a major Italian telecom operator, providing a wide range of voice and data services, on wireline and wireless networks, to families and businesses. Since its creation in 1999, the company has focused on innovation and infrastructures to provide high quality ultra-broadband connectivity. Thanks to the continuous expansion of its ultrabroadband network, Fastweb today reaches 22 million households, of which 8 with a proprietary infrastructure, with connection speeds of up to 1 Gigabit.

About the Trial

The trial will be set up as a multi-vendor environment for a month-long period, in Romania. The companies will demonstrate how 5G can complement existing fiber deployments to deliver high-quality, high-speed bandwidth services.

The Multi-Vendor Solution

Samsung and Cisco are working together to supply Orange with an end-to-end solution to deliver a gigabit-powered experience to trial customers. Samsung will provide commercial 5G home routers (indoor and outdoor customer-premises equipment (CPE)), 5G Radio Access Units (RAN) comprised of a compact radio base station and virtualized RAN elements, as well as 5G radio frequency planning services. Cisco will supply its Cisco Ultra Gateway Platform, delivering a 5G virtual packet core on top of Cisco NFV Infrastructure. The mobile gateway will be deployed with Control and User Plane Separation (CUPS) for enhanced throughput and flexibility.

Since 2017, Samsung and Cisco have conducted a series of comprehensive network vendor interoperability tests that demonstrated seamless interworking between the virtualized core network, virtualized radio network and CPE.

“Together with Samsung and Cisco, we are joining forces to drive the development of 5G and prepare for its progressive roll-out starting 2020,” said Arnaud Vamparys, Senior Vice President, Radio Networks and Microwaves, Orange. “This trial will demonstrate how FWA, NFV and multi-vendor interoperability create new opportunities and gives us flexibility to build our next-generation network as a multi-service network.”

“Samsung is pleased to partner with Orange and Cicso to address new market needs and explore together enhanced user experiences with our trial efforts,” said GY Seo, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Sales & Marketing Team, Networks Business, Samsung Electronics. “To bring Giga-speed broadband to more users across Europe, 5G FWA is a promising, fast-to-market and cost-effective option, as well as a viable alternative where fiber deployment is impracticable.”

“Industry collaboration for innovation and multi-vendor interoperability is paramount to the success of 5G,” said Yvette Kanouff, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Service Provider Business, Cisco. “5G is pushing the network to new lengths, with the need for greater bandwidth a top priority for all service providers. Our work with Samsung and Orange on this project spotlights how new scaling models and innovative virtualization solutions can deliver on the promise of 5G for an always on, connected society.”

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“For Samsung, we see the user experience as a key element to drive further innovation in the LTE market. We also believe that now is the most appropriate time to lay out our vision for the next generation network architecture,” said Youngky Kim, President and Head of the Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “Our innovative spirit has brought yet another opportunity to leap forward, by enabling new markets and services that enhance our daily lives such as autonomous vehicles and holographic communications.”

User Experience-centric Solutions & Software-centric Solutions

Samsung sees user experience as the critical element to drive innovation in network performance. In alignment with this, Samsung will be presenting automated solutions such as Voice Measurement and Analysis (VoMA), Data Measurement and Analysis (DMA), Antenna Tilt Optimization (ATO), Transmit Power Controlling (TPC) and the 3D network design tool. These solutions monitor and dimension network quality and user experience, in real-time, for enhancing the user experience.

Samsung’s vision is to drive the transformation of the current network architecture to one that is software-centric. A software-centric network is open-source based, establishes an automated network platform, and realizes new services and functions as Virtualized Network Functions (VNFs). This virtualized platform enables operators to adopt new services faster and in a more seamless manner. Furthermore, this unified network platform allows for simple, flexible and cost-effective network management as it supports the Samsung 4G and 5G vRAN and vCore as well as the functions of the existing legacy equipment.

Massive MIMO Solutions

To improve the efficiency of operators’ existing spectrums, Samsung is introducing the Samsung Massive MIMO Access Unit (MAU) based on advanced three-dimensional beamforming technology. Samsung will provide products fit for different environments with support for diverse frequency bands that can later be applied for 5G. As part of the exhibit, Samsung will demonstrate 24 mobile devices connected to a live 64T64R 2.5GHz massive MIMO radio and producing a total cell throughput of over 1Gbps.

Latest Small Cell Technologies

To cope with indoor coverage and traffic in the most effective way, including cost, there has been a noticeable increase in interest and discussions around small cell solutions across the industry.

Samsung is spotlighting its latest small cell portfolio for home, enterprise, and outdoor environments. This also includes spectrums and technologies, like CBRS, LAA and WiFi, that cover LTE licensed as well as unlicensed.

5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) Commercialization and Beyond

Using the complete 5G end-to-end solution announced earlier this year at 2017 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Samsung will be demonstrating, live, the deployment process and actual 5G FWA service being deployed in consumer homes as part of an active U.S. Tier 1 operator trial. Visitors will be able to experience – via Samsung Gear VR – a live 360- degree camera view of an apartment powered by 5G FWA service. With 5G FWA commercialization expected in the U.S. in 2018, Samsung will highlight the next wave of 5G use cases such as consumer mobility in sub-6GHz spectrum and 5G-powered autonomous vehicles.

The Samsung Networks booth is located at the South Hall Stand S.616 in the Moscone Center at MWC Americas 2017 and is available on a reservation-only basis. If you are interested in learning more about Samsung Networks presence at MWC Americas or would like to see one of the demonstrations listed above, please contact Jonathan Varman at j.varman@sea.samsung.com.

For more information on this press release and other Samsung announcements, please visit news.samsung.com/global.