Through this collaboration, Samsung and Spark are enabling more users in New Zealand to experience the ultra-fast connectivity and low latency of 5G, and helping enterprise customers take advantage of the innovative services. With technology partners like Samsung, Spark is advancing its goal of helping New Zealanders grow in a digital world by extending 5G accessibility to drive new economic, educational and societal benefits.

“We’re pleased to collaborate with Samsung to launch 5G in central Christchurch, New Zealand to have access to 5G speeds at home with our wireless broadband or on-the-go with a compatible 5G phone,” said Rajesh Singh, General Manager of Value Management at Spark New Zealand. “Samsung’s 5G Massive MIMO radio enables major improvements in both throughput and efficiency for Spark.”

Spark’s new 5G network is the first deployment of Samsung’s latest 5G RAN solutions in New Zealand, including the company’s Massive MIMO radio. Samsung’s Massive MIMO radio is one of the lightest and most compact network radios in the market, featuring a slim design profile that provides space savings on tower tops. Using advanced 3D beamforming technology, Samsung’s Massive MIMO radio also delivers improved capacity and effectively extends network coverage.

“We are thrilled to work with Spark in building its 5G network. This project in Christchurch marks another milestone in Samsung’s 5G journey,” said MinSu Chu, Managing Director and Head of Samsung Electronics New Zealand. “We have built a strong following in New Zealand through our mobile devices, so we are pleased to be able to take the next step in advancing reliable, secure 5G network and offer an end-to-end solution.”

As 5G rollouts gain momentum, Samsung continues to demonstrate its technology and operational expertise in partnership with forward-looking operators seeking a smooth 5G migration. Samsung is already powering some of the most advanced commercial 5G networks around the globe and the company is now bringing its industry-leading capabilities and the next-generation network’s faster speeds to New Zealand.

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 connectivity to hundreds of millions of users around the world.

Spark, New Zealand’s largest mobile carrier, has been working with Samsung on network innovation, starting with 5G trials in 2019. These trials used Samsung’s 5G end-to-end solutions to test and verify the potential of next generation network technology at Spark Lab. The trials also demonstrated to Spark the high performance of Samsung’s 5G technology along with the possibilities it could bring through higher speeds and lower latency, leading to the commercial agreement.

Samsung Networks will provide Spark with its latest 5G New Radio (NR) solutions, including Massive MIMO radios that have a slim design profile, are lightweight for ease of installation, and provide space savings on tower tops. This provides carriers with more flexible, scalable 5G solutions that are simple and cost-effective to deploy, and accelerate commercial 5G availability. Since April 2019, Samsung’s Massive MIMO solution has been commercially proven through nationwide roll-outs led by all three mobile operators in Korea. The solution will also be commercialized in Japan this month.

“We are pleased to have Samsung as a 5G vendor for our mobile services, not only are they able to offer us a huge amount of global best practice and network infrastructure knowledge, they can also provide a proven immersive 5G experience for our customers,” said Rajesh Singh, General Manager of Value Management of Spark New Zealand. “One of the main reasons we selected Samsung was their 5G NR solutions which deliver enhanced network capability, high quality connections, and state of the art technology.”

“We are excited to begin this collaboration with Spark, which is a big step in bringing the power of 5G to New Zealand,” said WooJune Kim, Executive Vice President, Head of Global Sales & Marketing, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “We are looking forward to helping Spark unlock the future of mobile connectivity, and are ready to support the new level of 5G experiences they will deliver to their customers with our next generation network solution.”

Samsung Networks is one of the first companies to successfully deliver 5G end-to-end solutions ranging from chipset, radio, and core to cloud platform for both mid-band (2.5GHz/3.5GHz) and mmWave (28GHz/39GHz) frequencies. The company has been supporting 5G commercial services in leading commercial markets, including Korea and the U.S., where the majority of worldwide 5G subscribers are located currently, and it is supporting the commercial launch of 5G in Japan. In addition, Samsung is further expanding its global footprint rapidly to new markets including Canada and New Zealand.