Amid ongoing global discussions on future communication standards, Samsung and KT have begun research into eXtreme multiple-input multiple-output¹ (X-MIMO) — an ultra-high-density antenna technology designed to enhance 6G coverage and increase data transmission speeds.

The World Radiocommunication Conference² 2023 (WRC-23), hosted by the International Telecommunication Union³ (ITU), identified the 7 GHz band (7.125–8.4 GHz) as a candidate frequency for 6G. The global mobile communications industry considers this band as a key option due to its favorable frequency characteristics and spectrum availability. However, because the 7 GHz band operates at a higher frequency than the 3.5 GHz C-band used in 5G, it experiences greater signal path loss. Mitigating this loss is critical to achieving communication coverage comparable to that of 5G.

To address this challenge, the companies will research beamforming technology, which transmits focused signals in specific directions, and multi-spatial transmission technology, which uses multiple beams to deliver data to several users simultaneously. In X-MIMO systems operating in the 7 GHz band, more antennas will be used compared to 5G — requiring system architectures capable of efficiently managing ultra-high-density antennas.

Both companies plan to explore the convergence of telecommunications and AI to deliver an improved user experience, particularly in edge coverage areas. For example, AI can be used to predict and proactively respond to potential communication disruptions such as video streaming interruptions.

“We are committed to developing innovative 6G technologies that enhance both the operational efficiency of the 7GHz band and the overall user experience,” said Angelo Jeongho Park, Executive Vice President and Head of Advanced Communications Research Center (ACRC), Samsung Research at Samsung Electronics. “Our collaboration with KT will serve as a key foundation for advancing next-generation communications through reasonable, cost-effective investments.”

“Through this joint research with Samsung Electronics, we expect to secure next-generation network technologies that differentiate the quality of the user experience,” said, Jong-Sik Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of Future Network Laboratory at KT. “We will further strengthen our efforts in developing core 6G technologies to lead future mobile communication innovations.”

¹ Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology improves communication performance by utilizing multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver.
² The World Radio Communication Conference (WRC) is an intergovernmental event organized by the ITU to coordinate global frequency usage.
³ The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies with 193 Member States and more than 1,000 companies, universities, research institutes and international and regional organizations.

As 6G standardization gains momentum with AI technology expanding across industries, the two companies aim to enhance overall network performance by applying AI to multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technologies. MIMO systems increase transmission speed and expand coverage by utilizing multiple antennas to transmit and receive signals. In contrast to traditional MIMO systems that transfer data in a single-cell network, distributed MIMO (D-MIMO) systems deploy multiple cells to offer advantages such as improved performance in coverage boundary areas and the network overall.

Through this collaboration, the companies will research AI-driven solutions to optimize the design and operation of D-MIMO systems — enabling higher transmission speeds at the user level and increased network-wide capacity.

▲ D-MIMO systems

“The joint research with KDDI Research will play an integral role in innovating wireless telecommunications through the convergence of telecommunications and AI technologies,” said Paul (Kyungwhoon) Cheun, CTO of Device eXperience (DX) Division at Samsung Electronics and Head of Samsung Research. “We will lead the next-generation communication research that brings improvements to user experience.”

“I anticipate that our research collaboration will highlight the critical role of AI and D-MIMO in developing a user-centric network that delivers exceptional wireless quality across the target area, ultimately creating new value in 6G,” said Hajime Nakamura, President and CEO of KDDI Research, Inc.

Industry alliances, including the AI-RAN Alliance¹ and the Next G Alliance (NGA),² are pivotal to driving Samsung’s research on integrating AI into communication technologies. In November 2024, Samsung hosted the Silicon Valley Future Wireless Summit to encourage greater collaboration in the industry. Beyond these partnerships and initiatives, the company released a 6G white paper last month outlining its vision for AI-native and sustainable communication technologies.

¹ Collaborative consortium of industry leaders and academic institutions committed to integrating AI into radio access networks (RAN) and propelling the industry toward 6G
² Initiative launched by the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) to advance North American leadership in wireless technology over the next decade through private-sector-led efforts

A leader in the vRAN market, Samsung has been contributing to the earliest massive commercial adoption of 5G virtualized networks across the world. The company has been the only major vendor that has conducted large-scale commercial vRAN deployments with Tier One operators on multiple continents — in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

“While Samsung’s 5G vRAN has successfully proven its performance by delivering results on par with traditional hardware-based equipment in commercial networks, we are moving fast into the next phase of vRAN software development — Samsung’s vRAN 3.0,” said Ji-Yun Seol, Vice President, Head of Product Strategy, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “The software-centric nature of the solution allows us to add these enhanced capabilities — performance optimization and energy efficiency — much faster than traditional RAN hardware. Samsung’s newest features will add tremendous value to operators rapidly shifting to virtualized networks.”

Samsung’s next-level vRAN capabilities include the following:

Performance Optimization

• 200MHz 3 Cell Support
  With a software upgrade, Samsung’s vRAN will be equipped with the ability to provide 3 Cell configuration with 200MHz of bandwidth support using its 64T64R Massive MIMO radios. This is more than triple the radio bandwidth support when compared to its previous generation software, capable of supporting an operator’s entire mid-band 5G spectrum holdings.
• Modem Algorithm Optimization
  Samsung is incorporating a modem algorithm optimization approach to its development roadmap. Unlike a hardware-centric approach, modem algorithm optimization enables operators to receive software tailored to their needs, with only the required features and configurations, allowing for an optimized and efficient use of COTS servers.

Power Savings

• CPU Core Sleep Mode
  Available on Samsung’s vRAN software, this feature reduces power consumption by automatically putting the CPU in “sleep mode” — or turning off unused CPU Cores — during periods of low data traffic. When capacity demand increases again, CPU Cores exit sleep mode.
• Adaptive Core Allocation
  This feature of Samsung’s vRAN software assigns a number of CPU Cores at cell setup proportional to the number of active cells. Unassigned or unused CPU Cores are set to idle mode to reduce power consumption and are activated when capacity demand increases.
• Energy Saving Feature Orchestrator (ESFO)
  ESFO is an orchestration tool that manages multiple energy saving features in one platform, optimizing efficiency with no service interruption. ESFO automatically analyzes hourly traffic patterns and optimizes the operating conditions of each Energy Saving feature, per sector and time zone. The tool constantly updates the multi-level Energy Saving operations of multiple power saving features — such as cell on/off and Tx path on/off — to reflect traffic pattern changes and prior results.

With these enhanced capabilities, Samsung’s vRAN can support smarter management and operation of wide-scale commercial virtualized networks, as more operators seek to meet the next-generation network demands of their customers. Samsung plans to launch its new vRAN capabilities to global operators, beginning its rollout in North America in the first half of 2023.

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 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.

Samsung 5G-ready massive MIMO equipment used in Sprint’s 5G network in Chicago

Samsung Electronics America today announced at Mobile World Congress 2019 that Sprint is using Samsung’s 5G New Radio (NR) solutions as the carrier prepares to launch its commercial 5G service.

The new 5G NR solution is enabled by adding Samsung software and a channel card to Samsung’s existing Massive MIMO technology, which has been providing enhanced 4G LTE service in U.S. markets on Sprint’s 2.5GHz TDD network since last year. This allows both 4G LTE and 5G commercial service on Sprint’s network using the ‘split mode’ capabilities of Samsung’s MIMO solution, offering a simple, cost-effective transition to 5G. The solution is capable of achieving more than 1.5Gbps throughput speeds.

Samsung’s 5G NR solution will be in the commercial network for one of Sprint’s first 5G cities, Chicago, IL, scheduled to launch commercially in May. Sprint announced their 5G plans today in a press conference at Mobile World Congress.

“Last year, we were proud to deliver enhanced speeds and capacity to Sprint’s customers through Samsung’s massive MIMO solution,” said Lyle Nyffeler, Vice President, Networks Division, Samsung Electronics America. “Today, we are advancing our technology collaboration by taking this next step with Sprint to deliver commercial 5G NR, and supporting their 5G strategy through this milestone in Chicago.”

“Our collaboration on massive MIMO has delivered significant LTE capacity and speed enhancements,” said Scott Santi, SVP of Network Deployment and Operations at Sprint. “With 5G, we look forward to giving Sprint customers even greater experiences from gaming and entertainment services, to IoT and business applications.”

Samsung’s massive MIMO technology plays a key role in Sprint’s 5G evolution. Thesolution’s split-mode capabilities use the same radio for 4G LTE and 5G NR, offering simple transitions to 5G without requiring tower climbs. Additionally, as subscribers purchase 5G phones, excellent performance quality is retained as 4G capacity transitions to 5G. The MIMO technology features 64T/64R antenna array, beamforming, and carrier aggregation, helping operators inject new capacity into networks without purchasing more spectrum or adding new base stations. The system includes 128antenna elements within a compact form factor.

Using Sprint’s 2.5GHz spectrum, Samsung’s 5G solution will drive hyper-streaming and ultra-fast downloading on 5G smartphones, as well as enhanced experiences with mobile gaming, mixed reality (AR and VR) applications and new enterprise use cases.

At Samsung Networks MWC 2019 booth (Hall 2 (2M20)), the company will showcase its commercial 2.5GHz 64T64R Massive MIMO unit (MMU), as well as a video of the 5G field testing with Sprint in Chicago, IL. For further information on Samsung’s Networks solutions visit here.

Samsung Electronics America today announced that their 5G-ready massive MIMO solutions on Sprint’s 2.5 GHz TDD-LTE network are now in commercial service. As part of Sprint’s network, Samsung’s massive MIMO solutions deliver improved 4G LTE throughput and capacity to Sprint’s subscribers. Additionally, this helps provide Sprint with a seamless upgrade path to 5G New Radio (NR), utilizing the carrier’s deep 2.5 GHz spectrum.

In February 2018, Sprint announced its selection of Samsung as a massive MIMO provider for their future 5G mobile network launch in the U.S., an important milestone for the carrier. Samsung’s massive MIMO can provide a way for operators to inject new capacity into their network without having to purchase more spectrum or add new base stations. It is being used by Sprint to significantly boost LTE network speeds and capacity for millions of U.S. customers, while improving network efficiencies through advanced beam-forming. 

“We are excited to see Samsung MIMO solutions in use on Sprint’s current LTE commercial network, which will help their customers experience the full benefits of network innovation,” said Lyle Nyffeler, Vice President, Networks Division, Samsung Electronics America. “Our MIMO solutions are engineered to maximize 4G networks today, while offering a graceful, seamless path to a 5G future.”

In addition to delivering substantial capacity gains using the same amount of spectrum, Samsung’s MIMO solution offers a seamless path through split mode, enabling deployment of 4G and 5G NR on the same radio, without any hardware changes. The massive MIMO implementation also includes the Samsung CDU 30, a higher capacity digital unit and software that enables gigabit level speeds while supporting eMTC and NB-IoT.

“Massive MIMO is a powerful technology that enables us to dramatically increase our LTE capacity and data speeds, giving customers in dense urban locations an even better mobile experience,” said Jay Bluhm, Vice President of Network Development and Engineering, Sprint. “We’re also excited to collaborate with Samsung on 5G and enable a whole new level of immersive mobile services.”

For further information on Samsung and Sprint’s massive MIMO trial, please visit here.

Have you imagined a future city where a 5G communications network connects things in your daily life? The Samsung Electronics Newsroom video provides a sneak peek at the forthcoming ‘5G City’ future.

Samsung Electronics has established the ‘5G City’ to demonstrate certain aspects of the upcoming 5G era, where things will be connected throughout the world with a 5G communications network. ‘5G City’ is located within ‘Digital City’ of Samsung Electronics in Suwon, Korea, and is made up of three parts: the ‘5G Stadium’, the ‘5G Connectivity Node’ and the ‘5G Kiosk’.

The ‘5G Stadium’

The ‘5G Stadium’ is what could be called the sports stadium of the 5G era. Using a massive MIMO (multiple input multiple output), a key evolution technology toward 5G, the stadium offers an environment where dozens of people can watch high-definition streaming videos seamlessly. The lagging replay videos at a baseball stadium will soon become a thing of the past. It is applicable for crowed venues like sports centers, concert halls, conference areas and more.

The ‘5G Connectivity Node’

The ‘5G Connectivity Node’ represents one of the focal aspects of 5G technology in the smart city. CCTV cameras, digital signages, and all sorts of sensors are connected through 5G and other technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Zigbee. This enlarges network capacity which connects more sensors and enables more accurate and intelligent way to monitor traffic, measure temperature and stream diverse content. Eight high-definition CCTV cameras and the video analysis software of a security company detect the driving speeds of cars and pedestrians jaywalking. This information can then be shared across the 5G network, so that the central control tower can access the information simply through a tablet device to overview the control status from outside. When artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are added to the city in the near future, smarter and safer city control services can be implemented.

The ‘5G Kiosk’

High-speed download becomes a breeze with the ‘5G Kiosk’, the hot spot of 5G era that allows for super high-speed download. When a 5G test bus drives into this area, download speeds reach 1~3Gbps, a 500MB file can be downloaded within five to six seconds. With the most optimal technology and equipment of the 5G era, the ‘5G Kiosk’ zone will be able to provide new services such as high-definition video, map download and large software updates for autonomous vehicles.

Samsung Electronics also hosts an exhibition on global 5G commercialization at the ‘Network Lounge’ in Suwon Digital City. The exhibition covers a wide range of 5G technologies including 3.5GHz and 28GHz communication equipment, 5G powered next generation use cases which will be key features of the global 5G commercialization.

Based on the 2018 Busan meeting, the 3GPP will make the final announcement of 5G phase-1 standards at the general meeting that is going to be held in the U.S. next month. The 5G standardization process that started in April 2016 will end next month after a 27-month journey. In particular, the work carried out on the frontlines by Samsung engineers has helped to bring about the commercialization of 5G 21 months faster than the time taken for the 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) transition, which was 39 months. Some of the global consumers will be able to enjoy, as early as this year, the next generation services such as ultra-high definition content, artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous driving, and the Internet of Things (IoT) on 5G that is more than 20 times faster than the previous network.

“Samsung Electronics has been working on ultra-high frequency three years faster than other companies,” said Younsun Kim, Principal Engineer of Standards Research Team at Samsung Research and Vice Chairman of RAN1 working group in 3GPP. “When the world started to discuss the setting of standards, Samsung had already developed the related technologies. We had strong aspirations to bring the standardization for 5G commercialization faster than any other company in the world.”

Comparison between 4G LTE and 5G standardization schedules

“2017 vs 2020,” A Debate Over Setting the Standardization Period

Many in the industry turned their heads as the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) identified ultra-high frequency above 6GHz as the optimal candidate band for 5G (refer to ‘Pioneer in 5G Standards, Part 1’), and a debate ensued between those who advocated for faster 5G standardization and others who were more reluctant to do so.

Samsung set 2017 as the completion period for the first 5G standardization as it developed the cutting-edge beamforming technology, Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) and other technologies to use ultra-high frequencies. However, other companies that were focusing on the 4G commercialization and had a late start on 5G R&D, countered with 2020 as the completion period for the first 5G standardization. This would have pushed the 5G commercialization period to 2021.

Samsung propelled to establish a workshop at the 3GPP, and 150 companies and more than 550 attendees came to Phoenix, the U.S. in September 2015. Here, the company proposed core technologies for 5G and provided a conciliatory gesture to delay the first standardization period, including the ultra-high frequency band, to 2018. As the participants from U.S., Japanese and Korean companies who wanted to commercialize 5G early showed great interests in the plan, the argument for ‘standardization in 2020’ was revoked. At the April 2016 5G standardization meeting, which was the first one organized by Samsung, companies reached an agreement of setting 2018 as the year to complete standardization.

The 3GPP 5G Workshop held on September 2015 in Phoenix, U.S.

Doubt Turns to Trust for Ultra-High Frequency through Vigorous Contacts to FCC and Others

From the early stage, Samsung has been eager to introduce the 5G ultra-high frequency technology to regulatory government agencies and international organizations. The company has been in constant contact with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) since 2012 because they always open their communication channels to explore new technologies. The FCC had a great interest in using ultra-high frequency due to saturation of using low frequencies below 6GHz. They positively replied to Samsung on the issue of using a 28GHz ultra-high frequency for the first time.

The FCC allocated ultra-high frequencies including 28GHz for 5G in July 2016, just three months after the first 3GPP standardization meeting. The U.S. is now looking forward to commercializing 5G communication in the second half of this year as the U.S. telecommunication companies are competing fiercely to lead on 5G services with their allocated frequencies. Such movements have acted as catalysts to move toward the standardization of 5G.

“When Samsung first introduced 5G standardization to the world in 2013, most doubted or ignored the idea,” said Hyukchoon Kwon, Principal Engineer of Standards Research team at Samsung Research. “Trust in Samsung and its 5G technology, as well as the rapid advancement towards standardization, were all possible not only because of technological developments but also due to constant contact with international organizations and various governments.”

Since 2015, Samsung has been actively suggesting 5G technology to the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), one of the three biggest international standards (ITU, IEC, ISO) and conformity assessment bodies for all fields of electrotechnology. The IEC published the white paper on the evaluation of 5G ultra-high frequency product electromagnetic waves in November 2017. The international standard on 5G device electromagnetic waves affecting the human body is expected to be completed as early as next year.

Samsung showcased its latest 5G innovations at MWC 2018 in Barcelona.

Five 3GPP Chair and Vice Chairs, and the Largest Number of 5G Patents Validate the Standards Leadership of Samsung

The international organization 3GPP that leads 5G standardization has 16 working groups under three Technical Support Groups (TSGs). Samsung has been in charge of four positions including the Chair of Service & System TSG and Chair of RAN4 working group, which oversees the frequency and performance that is key to 5G, and in 2018, one more Chair position – SA6 working group for mission-critical applications – was given to Samsung, as an evidence of how its leadership in 5G technology and standardization is recognized throughout the world.

Samsung also kept its eyes on registering patents to protect the innovative technologies. According to the Taiwan Patent Office in 2016, Samsung led 66 companies by owning 12.7 percent in more than 7,500 of the essential standard patents for 4G LTE and LTE-Advanced. The company continues its leadership on developing 5G-related technologies and securing essential standard patents. As the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI) allows companies related to the 5G standards to register their essential patents, Samsung registered the largest number of 1,254 patents as of May.

“The study on 5G ultra-high frequency started in 2009 and it is now heading to its goal of producing international standards after ten years of work, thanks to our engineers’ dedication, said Juho Lee, Master of Standards Research Team, Samsung Research. Samsung’s efforts to make people’s lives more abundant through advanced technologies will continue even after the commercialization of 5G.”

“At MWC 2018, Samsung plans to show how our homes, cars and cities can be transformed by building user-centric 5G networks” said Youngky Kim, President and Head of Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “Since the beginning of our 5G research in 2012, Samsung stood firm among industry players to trust in the potentials of the millimeter wave spectrum. Our efforts towards advancing this technology will see the light this year, making 5G a reality and opening up new territories’ possibilities for consumers, operators and enterprises.”

Samsung has developed the world’s first complete commercial 5G FWA solutions, which includes: commercial form-factor 5G home routers (CPEs) for both indoors and outdoors, 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) comprised of a radio access unit and virtualized RAN, a next-generation core, as well as AI-powered 3D radio frequency planning tools and services. Using in-house technology and assets, Samsung has managed to develop the first commercial ASIC-based 5G modems and mmWave RFICs, enabling the design of compact access units and CPEs.

These products have already been proven through months of field trials in multiple markets. On February 23rd, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted authorization of Samsung’s 5G access units. These are the first 5G millimeter-wave products in the world to secure government regulatory approval—a milestone achieved through close collaboration with the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology.

The solutions will be deployed in the first commercial 5G network to be launched in 2018 in the U.S. For more details, refer to Verizon Selects Samsung for 5G Commercial Launch.

Samsung will also present its first 3GPP Release 15-compliant 5G NR products supporting spectrum bands both below and above 6GHz, to be made available in 2018.

5G-powered Smart Cities

The solutions will enable 5G connectivity for deployments covering a broad range of use cases, greatly enhancing an operator’s ability to explore various business cases and scenarios. A demonstration of a 5G-powered smart city at Samsung’s MWC booth will showcase the difference next-generation technology can bring to streets and transportation, so they are much safer and more convenient. Other demonstrations that illustrate how 5G will work in homes, stadiums, cars and trains are also planned to be presented at the booth.

Other Samsung solutions to be presented will include new LTE radio units and massive MIMO solutions, cloud platform, user-centric network optimization tools as well as services tailored to operators and enterprises’ specific needs.

Samsung Networks’ booth at MWC is located at the Exhibit Hall 2 Stand 2M20 in Fira Gran Via, and will be open from February 26th to March 1st, 2018. To learn more about MWC 2018, please visit www.mobileworldcongress.com.

“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.

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.