Samsung said that the companies also completed the first 5G data call on Virgin Media O2’s commercial 5G network
Samsung Electronics and Virgin Media O2 announced they have successfully completed the deployment of multiple live 4G and 5G sites in the U.K.
In a release, Samsung said that the companies also completed the first 5G data call on Virgin Media O2’s commercial 5G network, using the sites.
Field trials were jointly carried out on the sites — located in Tamworth and the Peak District, England — since the start of this year. These two trials followed successful lab tests conducted in October 2021, validating the capability and performance of Samsung’s 4G and 5G solutions on Virgin Media O2’s commercial network.
In addition, these field tests demonstrated interoperability between Virgin Media O2’s 2G/3G/4G networks and Samsung’s latest 4G and 5G solutions, and validated use of Samsung’s Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) capabilities.
Samsung provided its latest network solutions for trials — including 4G radios, 5G Massive MIMO radios and baseband units. The Korean vendor explained that the solutions cover a wide range of Virgin Media O2’s spectrum holdings including 800MHz, 2.1GHz and 3.5GHz. Specifically, Samsung delivered its 5G 64T64R Massive MIMO radios for the 3.5GHz spectrum.
The Samsung radio solution used for this trial can also be O-RAN compliant with some configuration changes and additional support, Samsung said.
“Samsung is excited to extend our network collaboration with Virgin Media O2 in the U.K., advancing from lab trials to now delivering 4G and 5G in commercial networks out in the field,” said Francis BJ Chun, president and CEO, Samsung Electronics U.K. “We look forward to playing a major part of the diversification of the network equipment supply chain in the U.K. market.”
“We are pleased to build on our previous collaboration with Samsung, delivering another 5G milestone in our push to developing Open RAN technologies,” said Jeanie York, CTO at Virgin Media O2. “We will continue our collaborative efforts with Samsung to explore the possibilities of 5G and push the technology further to deliver superior end-user experiences for our customers.”
Virgin Media O2 had initially announced the first Open RAN trials in early 2020.
Virgin Media O2 launched services in June 2021 as a joint venture between Liberty Global and Telefónica in the U.K. The new Virgin Media O2 is one of the U.K.’s largest operators with over 47 million connections including broadband, mobile, TV and fixed lines.
Liberty Global and Telefonica had reached an agreement to merge their U.K. operations in a 50-50 joint venture in May of 2020. That same month, the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) decided to allow the proposed merger between mobile operator O2 and Virgin Media.
The company, which has committed to investing at least £10 billion (currently $13 billion) in the U.K., delivered 5G to over 2,000 sites across the country last year and now has 5G coverage in areas spanning 300 towns and cities. The operator had also committed to reach 50% of the U.K.’s population with its 5G services in 2023.
