The demonstration zone was set up in the exhibition hall of the Popov Central Museum of Radio Communications, one of the world’s oldest museums of science and technology, in St. Petersburg. Guests and journalists were given the chance to make HD video calls and play a football simulation video game on Samsung’s 5G prototype tablets. 5G provides an unprecedented mobile video game user experience by dramatically reducing the response rate between devices.

The demonstrations also included streaming of 4K ultra-high definition video. These trials utilized Samsung’s 5G end-to-end solutions including 5G routers (CPE, Customer Premise Equipment) and prototype tablets, 5G radio access unit, virtualized RAN and virtualized core network.

“Our goal is to adapt new technologies to commercial use in cooperation with industry-leading vendors. Today’s trial with Samsung Electronics demonstrates that 5G is not an academic theory, but presents a nearly ready set of practical network solutions that will allow customers to manage a broad range of everyday tasks and open new opportunities that are unachievable on 4G,” commented Pavel Korotin, Director of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region, MTS.

“Today’s tests demonstrated the readiness of MTS’s network infrastructure for the deployment of 5G. Samsung is pleased to have MTS as our partner to together explore the capabilities of 5G that are essential to unlocking near-term use cases for both customers and enterprises,” said Seungsik Choi, Vice President of Samsung Electronics Russia.

Samsung and MTS began their cooperation in 2014 with the launch of LTE networks in the Northwestern Federal District of Russia, including St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region. In the second half of 2017, Samsung and MTS signed an agreement to expand and upgrade MTS’ network with LTE-Advanced Pro and IoT features. The companies will also continue their collaboration on 5G.

About Mobile TeleSystems PJSC

Mobile TeleSystems PJSC (“MTS” – NYSE:MBT; MOEX:MTSS), the leading telecommunications group in Russia and the CIS, provides a range of mobile, fixed-line and digital services. We serve over 100 million mobile subscribers in Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, and Belarus, and about 9 million customers of fixed-line services, including fixed voice, broadband internet, and pay-TV. To keep pace with evolving customer demand, MTS is redefining what telecommunications services are by offering innovative products beyond its core network-related businesses in various tech segments, including Big Data, financial and banking services, internet of things, OTT, cloud computing, systems integration and e-commerce.

We leverage our market-leading retail network as a platform for customer services and sales of devices and accessories. MTS maintains its leadership in the Russian mobile market in terms of revenue and profitability. MTS is majority-owned by Sistema PJSFC. Since 2000, MTS shares have been listed on the New York Stock Exchange and since 2003 – on the Moscow Exchange. For more information, please visit: www.mtsgsm.com.

The newly signed MoU specifically covers technologies viewed as essential for advanced communications, including advanced Carrier Aggregation, Multiple-Input Multiple Output (MIMO) technologies, LTE Broadcast (eMBMS), Multi-path TCP (MPTCP) as well as IoT technologies such as NB-IoT and LTE-Machine. The two companies will conduct multiple tests to enhance data communication speed, leveraging 4G infrastructure through advanced Carrier aggregation, MIMO and MPTCP.

“Samsung is pleased to sign this MoU with MTS as it proves our successful partnership around LTE. We are confident that this collaboration will play a key role in leveraging advanced technologies to bring everyday benefit to the lives of Russians,” said Dong Soo Park, Executive Vice President of the Networks business at Samsung Electronics. “Based on Samsung’s strengths in 5G and IoT, we look forward to supporting MTS in solidifying their position as an innovative telecommunications leader by discovering new opportunities for the commercialization of 5G.”

Through its collaboration with Samsung, MTS will also be able to broaden opportunities for new services and applications, such as IoT. The MoU involves diverse IoT network technologies, including 3GPP based NB-IoT and LTE-M. As network requirements like data rates, spectrum bandwidth and battery life vary by diverse IoT use cases, MTS and Samsung will find and select the best technology suited for each business case.

As 5G will play a significant role in providing ultra-fast data communication with low latency and new spectrum efficiencies, the two companies will also work together to pave the way toward 5G realization by driving conversation in the direction of 5G trials.

“MTS is consecutively working on preparation of its network in Russian regions for 5G technology deployment, and signing memorandum with Samsung is another important step on that way. Paying close attention already now to innovative research and development, when new standard requirements are still under formation, we build a basis for quick 5G implementation in future, considering growing subscriber needs and changing environment on country’s telecom market. Commercial deployment of new technologies, including an area of IoT, will make it possible for us to occupy new market niche in both corporate and mass market domains.” – concluded MTS Vice President of technology Mr. Andrei Ushatskiy

Samsung and MTS have been working together since 2013 to establish LTE networks in cities across the North-West Federal District of Russia, including St. Petersburg and the Leningrad regions, Pskov, Komi, Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, and others. The two companies will continue to expand their mutual long-term business cooperation with a focus on 5G.

Since the late 2000s, Samsung has been continuously investing in experiments and studies involving 5G based technologies, with a primary focus on 5G commercialization technology since 2014. Through its efforts, Samsung’s milestone 5G technology developments have included the world’s first handover demonstration in a multi-cell mmWave network, a 5G channel modelling tool to significantly reduce the time and labor required for 5G network planning, and RF technology essential in miniaturizing devices and equipment. Samsung has also played a key role in contributing to the formation of 3GPP standards, and holds essential patents for the new 5G standards, expected to be finalized in 2018.

About Mobile Telesystems PJSC

Mobile TeleSystems PJSC (“MTS” – NYSE:MBT; MOEX:MTSS) is the leading telecommunications group in Russia, Central and Eastern Europe. We provide wireless Internet access and fixed voice, broadband and pay-TV to over 100 million customers who value high quality of service at a competitive price. Our wireless and fixed-line networks deliver best-in-class speeds and coverage throughout Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Turkmenistan and Belarus. To keep pace with evolving customer demand, we continue to grow through innovative products, investments in our market-leading retail platform, mobile payment services, e-commerce and IT solutions. For more information, please visit: www.mtsgsm.com.