Samsung wins $6.6 billion Verizon 5G order
10 September, 2020
Samsung Electronics clinched a $6.6 billion agreement to supply 5G network equipment to Verizon in the United States, a regulatory filing showed Monday, expanding its presence in the strategically crucial market.
The South Korean tech giant said the massive deal was equal to 3.4 percent of its total worldwide sales this past year, and a "long-term strategic contract".
Washington has banned U.S. telecom businesses from using network equipment created by Samsung's Chinese rival Huawei on security grounds.
Samsung Electronics is the flagship subsidiary of the sprawling Samsung group, by far the largest of the family-controlled South Korean conglomerates that dominate business in the world's 12th-biggest economy.
The order comes after the firm defied the coronavirus pandemic to create a 7.3 percent rise in second-quarter net profits because of strong demand for memory chips.
Samsung Electronics shares closed up 1.6 percent on Monday.
The U.S. is known as behind other countries such as China and South Korea when it comes to deploying the potentially transformative technology.
To catch up, Washington announced last month that 100 megahertz of coast-to-coast spectrum long reserved for the military would be auctioned off to telecommunications companies for use in 5G networks.
First-generation mobile networks enabled wireless calls, and the second generation added texting.
Third-generation mobile networks could handle more data, such as sending pictures and using basic apps, while the current 4G networks can carry bigger loads such as for example streaming video.
5G networks are touted as promising an exponential leap in the total amount and speed of wireless data, enabling advances in self-driving vehicles, virtual reality, linked health and more as sensors and servers communicate instantly.
Source: japantoday.com