A Deal Worth KRW1tr
Samsung Electronics will supply 5G mobile communication equipment to Dish Network, the fourth-largest mobile operator in the United States, the company announced on May 4.
The value of the deal amounts to more than 1 trillion won, the second largest in the history of Samsung Electronics’ 5G equipment supply contracts with companies in the United States. Previously, Samsung Electronics signed a 7.9 trillion won equipment supply contract with Verizon in September 2020.
Samsung will supply a wide variety of communication equipment to Dish Network, including 5G virtualized radio access network (vRAN) base stations and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) base stations. Among them, 5G vRAN base stations are based on a next-generation technology. Samsung's cloud native, fully virtualized RAN (vRAN) liberates operators from static hardware bound networks to enable flexible software centric networks.
Samsung will help Dish Network establish a 5G network in 70 percent of the residential areas in the United States within a short period of time.
Samsung Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong climbed Bukhan Mountain with Charlie Ergan, the founder of Dish Network, when the latter visited Korea in September 2021. Lee’s company with Ergan at the time played a decisive role in the conclusion of this contract, sources say.
Lee reportedly went to Ergan’s hotel room without an attendant and discussed the contract while hiking the mountain together. Lee knew that Ergan loves hiking mountains.
With the latest deal, Samsung solidified its position in the United States, the world’s largest telecommunication market.