Samsung to supply 5G devices to Japan’s KDDI
Samsung Electronics will supply its fifth-generation (5G) network equipment to Japanese mobile carrier KDDI, making a foray into one of the most lucrative network markets in the world, the tech giant said Monday.
The company said it was chosen as one of the suppliers to provide the 5G equipment to the No. 2 mobile carrier in Japan along with Sweden’s Ericsson and Finland’s Nokia over the next five years from 2019 to 2024.
Though Samsung didn’t reveal the exact contract size, industry sources presume the contract will be valued at $2 billion.
“Samsung won a contract to supply its 5G network equipment to KDDI. However, we cannot confirm the contract value,” a Samsung official said.
Given the Japanese government decided to exclude China’s Huawei Technologies, the world’s No. 1 network equipment provider, Samsung was highly expected to secure the supply deal jointly with Ericsson and Nokia.
With the deal, Samsung is expected to boost its market share and move one step closer to its goal to improve its global market share to 20 percent by 2020. As of 2018, Samsung secured about 5 percent share in the global network equipment market to be placed seventh.
Samsung, the only player that can provide both 5G gears and 5G smartphones along with Huawei, has been trying to get an edge on the Chinese competitor, by developing its cutting-edge 5G network technologies.
“The supply deal would be a good signal for the company that has been taking the 5G network equipment market as its new growth engine. As Japan has larger territory compared with Korea, mobile carriers there are required to install more equipment. The company is highly anticipated to win more supply deals,” an official from a mobile carrier here said.
With an aim to showcase technology-featured Olympics at the 2020 Tokyo Games, Japan has been accelerating efforts to deploy 5G network early next year.