Samsung Electronics has been chosen by Three UK to provide 3G and 4G LTE infrastructure equipment. It’s the first commercial mobile network roll-out for Samsung in Europe.
There’ll be a trial of LTE base stations across the UK from this year, with a commercial launch planned for 2013.
Dave Dyson, CEO of Three UK, said “Three’s customers will start benefitting from this investment in our core network early next year and those benefits will grow further as we deploy new spectrum. Samsung’s advanced network technology will help us to continue to deliver the most enjoyable smartphone experience. In Samsung’s home market operators are busy turning off 2G. In the UK Three is the only operator without a 2G network which means more and more consumers are choosing the network built for the internet.”
Dozens of mobile service providers - including Sprint and MetroPCS in the US, KDDI in Japan and Mobily in Saudi Arabia - currently use Samsung’s network equipment for their LTE services.
Everything Everywhere, which has recently been given permission to use some of its existing spectrum for 4G services, is required to sell some of that 4G-ready spectrum to comply with Ofcom regulations. A deal that involves transferring spectrum from Everything Everywhere to Three is expected to be completed next year.