Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jay-yong. (Photos: Samsung Electronics)

Samsung Electronics will supply 5G telecom equipment to KDDI, Japan’s second largest telecom service provider. Samsung Electronics now supplies 5G telecom equipment to Korea and the United States, but it is the first time that the Korean electronics giant will enter the Japanese 5G telecom equipment market.

 
Telecommunications industry sources said Samsung Electronics will supply 5G telecom equipment worth 2.4 trillion won to KDDI for five years between this year and 2024.

About half of 5.2 trillion won in KDDI’s investments into the 5G equipment segment would go to the purchasing of 5G equipment produced by Samsung Electronics.

Of late, KDDI has selected Samsung Electronics, Erickson and Nokia as 5G equipment suppliers.

KDDI, Japan’s second largest telecom service provider, has begun installation of a first base transceiver station with 5G equipment, supplied by Samsung Electronics.

Samsung Electronics is known to supply 5G equipment to base stations in Japan’s capital area, including Tokyo out of a combined 53,626 spots.

Samsung Electronics and KDDI have joined forces in research of telecom technologies to make preparations for its entry in the Japanese 5G equipment market. Last year, the two companies succeeded in broadcasting a 5G baseball game.

In May, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jay-yong met with executives of NTT Dokomo and KDDI to discuss 5G business projects. With the signing of the latest deal with KDDI, Samsung Electronics plans to tap the Japanese 5G equipment market in earnest.

Samsung Electronics plans to commercialize 5G services next March in time for the opening of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. Four operators, including KDDI, NTT Dokomo and Softbank, has been assigned with 5G spectrum in an auction. Local media reports said the four operators would invest 1.6 trillion yen (17.8 trillion won) into building 5G infrastructure over the next five years.

As Huawei of China, a leader of the global 5G equipment market, has been recoiled by the U.S. government’s sanctions, Samsung Electronics goes nimble in expanding its presence in the global 5G equipment market.

Samsung Electronics now supplies 5G equipment to three Korean telecom service providers, and the company has already signed deals to supply 5G equipment to U.S. operators such as Verizon, AT&T and Sprint.