Polish Telco Play partners up with Samsung to conduct 5G trials
South Korean tech giant Samsung announced on Wednesday a partnership with Polish telco Play to conduct 4G and 5G trials in Warsaw.
According to a joint statement, Samsung and Play will verify the capability and performance of Samsung’s 4G and 5G network solutions in the trial, which will be carried out in Play’s labs and commercial networks, beginning in Q2 of this year.
The trial will also test the interoperability between Play’s 2G/3G legacy networks and Samsung’s latest solutions, which will see Samsung R&D Institute Poland taking part as well.
The Polish telco provides mobile voice, messaging, data and video services for both consumers and businesses – Play boasts over 15 million subscribers across the nation, covering 99 percent of the country’s population.
“At Play we are open to the innovative technologies offered by our partners. The partnership with Samsung is another initiative that allows us to choose the best solutions for the rollout of our network. It is its extension and modernization that have a direct impact on the comfort of our customers,” said Michał Ziółkowski, Management Board Member and Chief Technology Officer at Play.
For the trial, Samsung will provide its latest 4G and 5G solutions—including 4G radios, 5G Massive MIMO radios and baseband units—on low and mid-band spectrums. Samsung’s 5G Massive MIMO radios have been commercially deployed since 2019 and are currently in operation across the globe.
Slim and lightweight, Samsung’s Massive MIMO radios ensure easy installation and quick deployment for mobile operators and increase coverage, boost data speeds to enrich 5G experience for users.
The company’s baseband unit offers improved performance with enhanced capacity and throughput, while supporting both 4G and 5G frequencies in a single unit. With this solution, operators can increase flexibility in network management and achieve cost efficiency.
“This trial will serve as a meaningful milestone for the two companies’ collaborative efforts in Poland,” said Thomas Riedel, Head of Europe, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “Leveraging our advanced 5G solutions and technical leadership, we will continue to expand our global and European presence with leading operators like Play to take 5G user experience to new heights.”
Samsung Currently, Samsung operates its R&D centers in Warsaw and Cracow, Poland, where the tech giant’s highest-quality software is created, as well as 5G trials. The company is currently providing network solutions to mobile operators that deliver connectivity to hundreds of millions of users around the world.