Challenging Huawei in Telecom Equipment Market

An integrated 28 GHz 5G base station from Samsung Electronics

Samsung Electronics announced on Oct. 23 that it has developed the industry's first integrated 28 GHz 5G base station, which supports data transmission at 10 Gbps, the fastest speed among commercial 5G base stations.

Samsung' 28 GHz 5G base station integrates a wireless communication section and a digital communication section. Samsung has minimized the size and weight of the new base station to allow it to be installed wherever users want such as street lamp posts or building walls.

In particular, the 5G commercial base station can support communication speed of up to 10 Gbps (based on the sum of download and upload communication speed) as it is loaded with a 28 GHz band-supporting 5G wireless communication core chip developed earlier this year and a recently developed 5G modem chip for base stations.

Samsung's integrated base stations are commercially available in the United States at the moment and are scheduled to be supplied in Korea as soon as Samsung Electronics sets schedules with mobile carriers. In the United States, the main bandwidth for 5G services is a 28 GHz band, while in Korea, 5G services are based on a 3.5 GHz band. Industry experts forecast that a 28 GHz band will be added in Korea next year.

As Samsung Electronics leads innovation in 5G communication equipment, much attention is also focusing on its competition with Huawei, the global leader. According to market research firm IHS Markit, Huawei ranked first in the overall communication equipment market last year with a 31 percent share. Samsung Electronics recorded 6.6 percent.

On the other hand, if you look at the 5G segment of the communication equipment market, it is a different story. Samsung Electronics came in first with a global market share of 37 percent from the fourth quarter of last year to the first quarter of this year, market research firm Dell’Oro said. Huawei came in second, followed by Ericsson and Nokia.

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