SUNTEC, Singapore – Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is better known for its smartphones and is possibly the strongest contender to Apple Inc.’s iPhone. On the mobile networks side, Samsung strongly positioned itself as a WiMAX-focused vendor and is still the No. 1 provider of WiMAX equipment globally.
Even though Samsung has scaled up its marketing activities in the LTE space in 2011, it is not seen as a strong contender in the market. Samsung does have 10% market share when it comes to LTE network contracts and more than 30 pilot contracts according to IP Hong, VP for marketing at Samsung. Notable deals are with LG U+ and SK Telecom on their home turf, but also with KDDI Corp. that includes a picocell eNodeB deployment as well as a TDD LTE contract with Mobily in Saudi Arabia. These deals come despite the dominance of Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and Ericsson and with the likes of Motorola Inc. and Nortel Networks Corp. not surviving due to the intensity of the competition in the market.
Unlike other vendors that decided to pull out of WiMAX altogether in order to position themselves as fully focused on LTE, Samsung is confident in its ability to win more LTE contracts in the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific this year. “Currently we are positioned at No. 4 in the LTE market,” Hong noted during the recent LTE Asia conference.
At the LTE Asia event, Samsung was showcasing its Smart LTE Optimization solution, a multi-standard base station and small cell base stations. They also provide managed services and have in-house chipsets for device and network infrastructure. With huge cash reserves, Samsung said it has money to invest in new technologies and research and development. They are increasing the number of staff working on LTE, especially in Europe where they have three multi-national trials taking place and where they hope to announce a contract later this year.
One of Samsung’s advantages is utilizing its smartphone business. Key to winning the contract with MetroPCS Communications Inc. was the ability to produce an LTE device in addition to deploying the network.
Samsung is not the first vendor to have both a successful networks and devices business as Ericsson has Sony Ericsson for its handsets; Nokia Corp. went into the infrastructure business through its Nokia Siemens Networks venture; Huawei has Huawei Devices; and ZTE Corp. is also moving aggressively into the devices market.
As mobile operators are keen to ensure that the LTE network is optimized for smartphones, it is important for their vendors to understand and see things from a device perspective. The end-to-end network now extends from the EPC right out to the device itself.
