After scalping a surprise win by getting a substantial share of Verizon’s 5G contract, Samsung has been consolidating its position by continuously expanding its RAN portfolio. Ojert emphasized that they are working very closely with Verizon for a speedy and successful C Band rollout.
Being a disruptor, Samsung has been an early adopter of vRAN and Open RAN architectures. It understands that the key success factor for these new architectures is providing performance that meets or exceeds that of legacy networks. The 64T64R has almost become a litmus test for whether the new approaches can easily evolve to support complex features such as mMIMO.
There have already been commercial deployments of legacy networks supporting 64T64R. Hence, it becomes a de facto bar for any new large-scale vRAN deployments. The telecom industry is hard at work to make it a reality. Verizon’s plan to use it to close the coverage gap of the C Band makes it almost mandatory for all its vendors.
Running these trials on live networks, that too at multiple locations makes a great proof-point for the readiness of Samsung’s gear for large-scale deployments. Ojert emphasized that by being a major supplier for cutting-edge 5G networks in Korea that use a similar spectrum, Samsung better understands the characteristics of the band. He added that they will utilize the entire portfolio of Samsung solutions including small cells, indoor solutions, and others in helping Verizon build a robust network.
C Band commercial deployments and service
FCC is expected to clear up to 60 megahertz of the total up to 200 megahertz of C Band spectrum later this year. Verizon is projecting to have C Band 5G service in the initial 46 markets in the first quarter of 2022, covering up to 100 million people. It will expand that as the additional spectrum is cleared, to reach an estimated 175 million people by 2024.
The initial deployments will be based on the Rel. 15 version of 5G, with the ability to do a firmware upgrade to Rel. 16, and beyond, for services such as URLLC, as well as Stand-Alone configuration.
C Band (along with its mmWave) spectrum indeed is a potent option for Verizon to substantially expand 5G services, effectively compete, and prepare for the strong evolution of 5G. It will be interesting to watch how the rollout will change the market landscape.
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