Samsung Electronics announced it has initiated KDDI’s commercial rollout of 700 MHz for 5G, providing enhanced indoor and outdoor mobile services and reliability.
Specifically, KDDI is using Samsung’s 700 MHz radio and next-generation indoor and outdoor baseband units. Samsung already provides KDDI with radio base stations supporting mid-band (3.7-3.8 GHz and 4.0-4.1 GHz), as well as millimeter wave at 28 GHz, and virtualized RAN.
RELATED: Samsung wins 5G deal with NTT DoCoMo in Japan
“We are proud to deliver on our mission of providing advanced 5G services to our customers, leveraging cutting-edge network technologies,” said Toshikazu Yokai, executive officer and chief director of Mobile Technology at KDDI, in a statement. “With the support of leading vendors like Samsung, we hope to continue expanding our 5G service areas with the goal of reaching 90 percent population coverage by early next year. We look forward to bringing improved 5G experience to more users.”
KDDI launched 5G services in March of 2020. The following month, KDDI and SoftBank announced a joint venture, 5G Japan, to rapidly build out 5G in rural areas of Japan using shared infrastructure.
RELATED: KDDI picks Ericsson for 5G core with enhanced zero-touch operation
Earlier this month, KDDI, as well as KDDI Research, MobiCom and the Telecom Infra Project (TIP), announced the launch of an interoperability trial of open and disaggregated 5G access equipment. The trial spans Japan and Mongolia.
In the TIP Community Lab, KDDI and KDDI Research have conducted fundamental tests of TIP’s Disaggregated Cell Site Gateway (DCSG) equipment for accommodating base stations and fixed broadband services. The two entities are exploring how open and disaggregated RAN, transport and core equipment can lower network costs and accelerate the deployment of 5G.