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

Grab is the market leader in ride-hailing in Southeast Asia, an industry that is one of the fastest growing Internet services sectors and expected to be a $25 billion market by 2022 in this region.¹ As part of the wide-ranging strategic collaboration, Grab and Samsung will develop customised solutions for the ride-hailing industry, including micro-financing schemes for Grab’s over 2.3 million driver-partners, improved customer booking and in-car experiences, and new mobility solutions. The two companies will also work together to expand into Southeast Asia’s fragmented mobile payments ecosystem and provide a mobile payments solution that will serve the needs of consumers in Southeast Asia.

Anthony Tan, Group CEO and Co-founder, Grab, said, “Southeast Asia is home to the world’s fastest growing emerging markets, yet many in the smaller towns and cities do not have easy access to the growing digital economy. Mobile technology can bridge the infrastructural divide and make economic growth more inclusive. Samsung is one of the world’s most innovative technology companies, and we’re thrilled to partner with them to empower more people in Southeast Asia to improve their livelihoods and provide more digital services for everyone on the Grab platform.”

Sangchul Lee, President and CEO, Samsung Electronics, Southeast Asia & Oceania, said, “Here at Samsung, developing meaningful innovations for the betterment of our consumers’ lives is always at the heart of what we do. We believe in the Internet of Things; the various benefits a more digitally connected world brings, and we are excited to be partnering Grab to provide consumers within the region an enhanced array of digital solutions for their everyday needs. Through this collaboration, we hope to explore how we can work together to tap into the massive growth opportunity of Southeast Asia’s digital economy.”

The strategic collaboration will be rolled out in phases across all countries in Southeast Asia that Grab operates in. In phase 1, Grab and Samsung are offering:

Micro-financing of Mobile Devices for Drivers

More than 2.3 million Grab driver-partners across Southeast Asia will have access to a micro-financing programme focused on giving them access to robust mobile technology, which will reduce the cost of purchasing a smartphone and also lower ongoing maintenance costs with superior software and security features. This is part of Grab’s Better 365 programme that provides more benefits and cost savings to drivers.

This initiative was piloted in Myanmar in Q4 2017, where only 30% of adults have access to formal financial services, and will soon be rolled out across the region. Currently, drivers in Myanmar who sign up with Grab can purchase and own high-quality Samsung devices and get a micro-loan from CB Bank, one of Myanmar’s largest banks and Grab’s local banking partner, to finance the device. In less than three months of the pilot, more than 1,400 drivers in Myanmar have benefitted from this programme.

Enhanced Customer Experience at GrabKiosks and GrabBooths

To make Grab’s services more accessible to commuters and customers in Southeast Asia, Grab will introduce more GrabKiosks and GrabBooths in busy consumer hubs such as shopping malls, hotels and airports. These feature Samsung devices with the Grab enterprise app pre-installed, allowing individuals and concierge services to book a Grab ride for themselves or others, even when they do not have data connectivity.

The Samsung devices are designed for robust everyday use in public spaces. The devices at GrabKiosks and GrabBooths in Indonesia and Myanmar have been installed with Samsung’s Knox enterprise mobile security software, ensuring the information security of Grab’s devices, reducing downtime and maintenance costs, enabling Grab to better serve its customers. This will be rolled out in Vietnam and Singapore in Q1, and other countries in Southeast Asia later in the year.

Infotainment Services in Selected Cars

Grab and its content partners will pilot in-car multimedia services in Singapore, installing Samsung tablets inside cars for customers to view infotainment content, if they choose to, during their ride. This will be piloted throughout Southeast Asia this year.

Grab operates the largest transportation network in Southeast Asia and is one of the most frequently used mobile platforms in the region with over 3.5 million daily rides. The Grab app has been downloaded onto over 77 million mobile devices, giving passengers access to the region’s largest land transportation fleet comprising over 2.3 million drivers. Grab offers private car, motorbike, taxi, and carpooling services across 8 countries and 168 cities in Southeast Asia.

About Grab

Grab is Southeast Asia’s leading on-demand transportation and mobile payments platform. Grab solves critical transportation challenges to make transport freedom a reality for 620 million people in Southeast Asia. Grab’s core product platform includes transport solutions for drivers and passengers with an emphasis on convenience, safety and reliability, as well as its proprietary mobile payments platform, GrabPay, which is increasing access to mobile payment solutions for millions of Grab riders and drivers across Southeast Asia and deepening financial inclusion in the region. Grab currently offers services in Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia. For more information, please visit: http://www.grab.com.

¹ Grab internal estimates

Samsung Electronics today announced that it has signed an MOU with Russian Railways for collaboration on the Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR) Project in Moscow.

Samsung and Russian Railways agreed to switch from marine transportation to TSR when transporting materials and end products from Korea or China to Eastern Europe.

Using TSR will allow Samsung to utilize the routes to production and sales sites in Russia and Europe, enabling a reduction in lead time and logistical costs.

Since January 2016, Samsung has been delivering the components and materials from China to the Kaluga factory in Russia, where TVs and washing machines are manufactured, through TSR and Trans-Manchuria Railway (TMR). This route shortened the lead time from 50 days to 18 days and saved logistical costs.

Additional routes included in the MOU are routes to European countries and Russia. Once the container ships arrive in Vladivostok from Korea and China, the containers will be transferred via TSR to Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland. This will drastically reduce the lead time from 35 days to 18 days.

Shortened lead times will bring Samsung more benefits, including stable inventory control and immediate and efficient adjustment when product models change.

This case exemplifies practical business collaboration which incorporates the concepts of Russian ‘New Eastern Policy’, Chinese ‘One Belt One Road’, and Korean ‘Eurasian Initiative’ and utilizes Eurasian Networks.

Through close collaboration with Russian Railways, Samsung will endeavor to build up a more efficient and economical logistics network and diversify transportation routes to mitigate unexpected global risks.

Samsung Electronics, announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for joint development of common views on next generation 5G technologies with Japanese telecommunications operator, KDDI. The agreement sees the companies continue their more than decade long history of successful collaboration.

“Over the past 10 years, Samsung Electronics and KDDI have introduced the most advanced CDMA and LTE technologies to the Japanese market,” said DongSoo Park, Executive Vice President and Head of Research and Development team, Networks Business at Samsung. “We have worked together to drive innovation in 3G and 4G, and this track record of achievement makes us confident and excited about what we can provide in 5G era to end-users.”

“KDDI is committed to providing high-quality network performance and superior user experience to our customer,” said Yoshiaki Uchida, Managing Executive Officer, Technology Sector, Member of the Board at KDDI. “By continuing to work closely with Samsung, we will study the innovations in 5G that are needed to keep up with consumer demand for our mobile network.”

The partnership will help to increase speed of 5G development, with both companies leveraging their expertise in mobile network. The collaboration will focus on the research and validation of technologies most critical to the future of 5G. By focusing on the developments that will have the most impact first, both Samsung and KDDI will be prepared for next generation telecommunications.

Samsung continues to be actively engaged in a range of key global 5G research initiatives and leads multiple collaborative projects with its industrial partners, academic partners and operators around the world.

In particular, Samsung has played an important role as the chair of sub-working group for future IMT(5G) Vision in ITU-R WP5D, as well as a rapporteur on 3GPP 5G channel model SI for above 6 GHz. Samsung has also been leading and participating EU flagship 5G PPP projects of Horizon 2020.

About KDDI Corporation

KDDI, a comprehensive communications company offering fixed-line and mobile communications services, strives to be a leading company for changing times. For individual customers, KDDI offers its mobile communications (mobile phone) and fixed-line communications (broadband Internet/telephone) services under the brand name au, helping to realize Fixed Mobile and Broadcasting Convergence (FMBC). For business clients, KDDI provides comprehensive Information and Communications services, from Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) networks to data centers, applications, and security strategies, which helps clients strengthen their businesses. For more information please visit http://www.kddi.com/english.

Samsung Electronics announced that it will partner with Korean telecommunications operator LG U+ to jointly develop 5G technology, in a move that will further strengthen both companies. The agreement will also enhance Korea’s global leadership in 5G research and help drive the creation of standards for the next major phase of innovation in mobile telecommunications.

“This partnership will help us drive R&D, which in turn will power innovation in the global telecommunications industry. 5G networks will be based on the convergence of a whole host of incredible new technologies, from more advanced antenna systems to Network Functions Virtualization (NFV). Bringing together Samsung’s cutting-edge technology and LG U+’s expertise and understanding of end-users preferences as well as application and service trends, will be a powerful combination,” said DongSoo Park, Executive Vice President of R&D in Network Business at Samsung Electronics.

“Together we will be well-prepared for the 5G era. Through close collaboration and by leveraging LG U+’s extensive network management understanding and Samsung’s technology leadership, we hope to lead the next generation of telecommunications technology, not only in Korea, but around the world,” added Sun Tae Kim, Executive Vice President of LG U+’s Service and Development Division.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing ceremony on June 25, which marks the formal start of the partnership, was attended by almost 100 senior staff from both companies. The event also featured an in-depth discussion of how the two companies will collaborate; as a result, both sides agreed to a shared ‘5G Readiness Target’ for the year 2020.

The collaboration will focus on three areas that are of critical strategic importance to 5G’s future:

1) 5G global spectrum identification and acquisition

Identifying and acquiring appropriate spectrum for 5G use is a key goal of the partnership, with particular emphasis on high-frequency bands, due to its relatively high availability and potentially enormous data capacity. Given the lack of industry-wide agreement on 5G spectrum, Samsung and LG U+ have identified an urgent need to drive early global standardization. Together, the companies will contribute jointly to efforts to determine the best spectrum – subject to the consensus of the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) IMT-2020 group.

Samsung Electronics and LG U+ will prepare a collaborative white paper on 5G spectrum standardization and will appear jointly at key industry events to address this issue. As part of their submission for the upcoming World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), the South Korean telecommunications industry and government have proposed the following six 5G spectrum bands as suitable for global usage: 27 – 29.5GHz, 31.8 – 33.4 GHz, 37 – 42.5 GHz, 45.5 – 50.2 GHz, 50.4 – 52.6 GHz, and 64 – 74 GHz.

2) 5G technology co-development

To establish a leadership position in 5G, Samsung and LG U+ will collaborate on future research and development. For example, the companies will co-develop Full Dimension Multiple Input Multiple Output (FD-MIMO) antenna technology, in order to deliver 5G’s throughput and data capacity potential.

Other joint R&D areas will include network architecture design, a review of key network elements and new millimetre wave (mmWave) radio technologies – both for network infrastructure and user devices. Performance targets in this latter area include vastly improved throughput capabilities and smooth service, even at speeds of up to 500km/h.

Lastly, co-development will also focus on Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) technologies, with the aim of sharply enhancing end-to-end operational efficiency and flexibility. Advances in these areas are considered essential to drive performance and support the next generation of Internet-of-Things based devices and services.

3) 5G technology global standardization

The partnership will focus not only on the determination of 5G spectrum, but the standardization of 5G technologies as well.

To this end, Samsung Electronics and LG U+ will actively participate in several key global standardization bodies, including the ITU’s IMT-2020 promotion group and the 5G Forum in Korea. These organizations are important platforms from which Samsung and LG U+ can jointly promote the adoption of 5G spectrum and technology standards. Together, the companies will actively contribute to the advancement of Korea’s ICT leadership efforts.

As detailed in Samsung’s 5G Vision whitepaper, the advent of 5G mobile networks is expected to exponentially increase cellular data throughput capabilities while drastically reducing network latency and operational costs. However, if this potential is to be realized, it will be essential to strike industry partnerships and collaborate during the ongoing development of 5G technology.

In addition to LG U+ in South Korea, Samsung has established partnerships with several operators across the world’s leading LTE markets, all with the aim of accelerating the R&D of 5G technology. These include collaboration with operators in Japan, Europe, and South Korea.

Samsung has also taken an active role in multiple 5G exploratory and standardization organizations, including the previously mentioned ITU’s IMT-2020, the World Radiocommunication Conference, and the 5G Forum in South Korea – as well as the Europe-focused 5G Public Private Partnership (5G PPP).

About LG U+

LG Uplus Corp. provides mobile telecommunication services to individual and corporate customers in the Republic of Korea. It provides personal services, such as mobile telecommunication, Internet phone, broadband Internet, IPTV, triple play services, cable TV transmission line services, and personal media cloud services. The company also offers local/long distance/international telephone services; telephone additional services, such as nationwide representative number, IPCC, free telephone, etc.; and VoIP services for corporate customers. In addition, it provides private circuit services, including local/international broadcasting, MVP, etc.; corporate Internet services, such as biz net, office net, PC room, etc.; and IDC services comprising collocation, hosting, CDN, etc. Further, the company offers online corporate payment gateway services; corporate customer mass message transfer and relay services; SME solutions, training solutions, etc.; and electricity/energy solution services, including electricity telecommunication, lighting control, smart meter, etc., as well as LTE routers, wireless payment readers, DTG, and M2M services, such as DTG, smart clean, etc. Additionally, it provides cell phone rental services for foreigners, students, and business men. The company was formerly known as LG Telecom, Ltd. and changed its name to LG Uplus Corp. in July 2010. LG Uplus Corp. was founded in 1996 and is based in Seoul, South Korea..