Samsung Electronics, TELUS and Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced today a trailblazing collaboration that will see TELUS become the first telecommunications provider in North America to evolve the architecture of roaming, enabling greater reliability and faster speeds for customers traveling abroad.

Traditionally, roaming traffic (voice, data and SMS) is routed through the provider’s home country, resulting in slower speeds for customers. With this revolutionary new approach, TELUS is able to house their network within AWS Regions worldwide, using virtualized roaming gateways. This means that traffic no longer needs to go through Canada, but will be routed directly to the closest AWS Region that houses TELUS’ network, significantly enhancing speed and responsiveness of mobile services. This process, also known as network cloudification, uses Cloud-native Core technology from Samsung on public cloud for mobile data, and ng-voice for voice calls, optimizing performance and ultimately quality.

“This architecture evolution further strengthens TELUS’ commitment to keeping our customers connected to what matters most, ensuring they are able to enjoy the same award-winning experience they have in Canada from anywhere in the world,” said Nazim Benhadid, Chief Technology Officer at TELUS. “Together with AWS, Samsung and ng-voice, we are making roaming more reliable and resilient than ever.”

“We are thrilled to work with TELUS, a company at the forefront of re-inventing the telco customer experience,” said Chivas Nambiar, general manager, telco business unit at AWS. “Alongside our AWS Partners, we are excited about how TELUS is using the cloud to augment their network capabilities to provide consistent and reliable global services for their customers.”

“Samsung’s Cloud-native Core is designed with flexibility and scalability in mind. By ensuring higher stability and reliability, Samsung powers TELUS’ new roaming approach to bring unmatched network performance and customer experiences while traveling,” said Stephen Wiktorski, Vice President and Head of Networks at Samsung Canada. “By working with forward-looking operators like TELUS, we are able to turn never before seen possibilities into reality.”

Virtual roaming gateway trials will begin in Q1 2024, but the possibilities of this collaboration extend far beyond roaming. Leveraging Samsung’s full Cloud-native Core solution on AWS paves the way for further advancements in disaster-recovery and 5G standalone core use cases.

About TELUS

TELUS (TSX: T, NYSE: TU) is a dynamic, world-leading communications technology company with more than $18 billion in annual revenue and over 18 million customer connections spanning wireless, data, IP, voice, television, entertainment, video and security. Our social purpose is to leverage our global-leading technology and compassion to drive social change and enable remarkable human outcomes. Our longstanding commitment to putting our customers first fuels every aspect of our business, making us a distinct leader in customer service excellence and loyalty. The numerous, sustained accolades TELUS has earned over the years from independent, industry-leading network insight firms showcase the strength and speed of TELUS’ global-leading networks, reinforcing our commitment to provide Canadians with access to superior technology that connects us to the people, resources and information that make our lives better.

Operating in 32 countries around the world, TELUS International (TSX and NYSE: TIXT) is a leading digital customer experience innovator that designs, builds and delivers next-generation solutions, including AI and content moderation, for global and disruptive brands across strategic industry verticals, including tech and games, communications and media, eCommerce and fintech, banking, financial services and insurance, healthcare and others.

TELUS Health is a global healthcare leader, which provides employee and family primary and preventive healthcare and wellbeing solutions. Our TELUS team, along with our 100,000 health professionals, are leveraging the combination of TELUS’ strong digital and data analytics capabilities with our unsurpassed client service to dramatically improve remedial, preventive and mental health outcomes covering more than 69 million lives, and growing, around the world. As the largest provider of digital solutions and digital insights of its kind, TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods enables efficient and sustainable production from seed to store, helping improve the safety and quality of food and other goods in a way that is traceable to end consumers.

Driven by our determination and vision to connect all citizens for good, our deeply meaningful and enduring philosophy to give where we live has inspired TELUS and our team to contribute $1.6 billion, including 2.2 million days of service since 2000. This unprecedented generosity and unparalleled volunteerism have made TELUS the most giving company in the world. Together, let’s make the future friendly.

For more information about TELUS, please visit telus.com, follow us at @TELUSNews on X and @Darren_Entwistle on Instagram.

The demonstration leveraged E-UTRAN New Radio Dual Connectivity (EN-DC) technology combining 40MHz of 4G frequency and 100MHz of 5G frequency on the C-Band spectrum. Through the dual connectivity approach, Samsung achieved 2.25Gbps overall on a single user device. For the demonstration, Samsung used its latest virtualized RAN, C-Band 64T64R Massive MIMO radio, and cloud-native 5G Core. Samsung’s vRAN, which is already in use providing services on low-band spectrum in the U.S., proved its capability to support Massive MIMO radios through this achievement.

“By combining our true vRAN solution and powerful C-Band 64T64R Massive MIMO radio for the first time in the industry, Samsung achieved a significant breakthrough, increasing the throughput ten-fold, improving user experience and showing our leadership in virtualized technology,” said Junehee Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of R&D, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “This milestone is a result of Samsung’s ongoing efforts in 5G innovation, backed by global commercialization experience, and we aim to continue driving R&D efforts to help mobile operators deliver pioneering solutions.”

Samsung’s vRAN solution enables mobile operators to bring greater flexibility, scalability, and resource efficiency in network management with various spectrums in Time Division Duplex(TDD) and Frequency Division Duplex(FDD). Today’s solution is significant as it demonstrates how the company’s vRAN delivers performance parity with traditional hardware-based equipment, while covering spectrum from low-band to mid-band, and supporting both outdoor and indoor radio solutions for both carrier and private networks.

“Operators consistently tell us that RAN virtualization is a priority as they look to accelerate their 5G network and service deployments,” said Peter Jarich, Head of GSMA Intelligence. “Samsung’s latest demonstrations will be well-received, signaling that 5G vRAN is a viable option, achieving performance on par with purpose-built hardware.”

Samsung recently announced its complete C-Band solutions portfolio, including macro and micro radios, indoor solutions, network optimization tools as well as C-Band Massive MIMO radio which has already been commercially shipped to the U.S. The company’s 5G vRAN solution was rolled out last year, delivering the industry’s first wide-scale commercialization of a fully virtualized 5G network solution.

Samsung has pioneered the successful delivery of 5G end-to-end 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.