SUMMARY
This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.
MANILA, Philippines – The race for 5th-generation wireless network technology, commonly called 5G, seems to be heating up with Samsung unveiling their own 3.5-gigahertz (GHz) band technologies at a press event held in South Korea last week.
According to Samsung Central, Samsung is confident that they can deliver the best possible 5G service that fit the rollout timetable of their local telecommunication companies, even though it’s the first time they’re dabbling in 3.5 GHz tech. There are multiple bands over which connected devices communicate. Operating on a new band such as the 3.5 GHz one is similar to opening up a new highway on which more cars may travel.
The South Korean tech giant claimed that their equipment is better and safer than that of rival, China’s Huawei Technologies, who has also been openly discussing their own development and rollout plans of the same 3.5 GHz technology in recent months.
Huawei has recently been scrutinized and considered a threat to national security by the United States government for allegedly having close links to the Chinese government. Samsung is likely capitalizing on this predicament to market their own brand of 5G operating equipment system.
“Just as people consider trust when picking a security company, Samsung is the most trustworthy in the business,” Kim Young-ky, head of Samsung’s network business said.
Kim stressed that they are not trailing behind the competition despite being much known for developing 28 GHz bands.
5G networks are said to be divided into both 3.5 GHz and 28 GHz bands. The former have longer reach and faster data transfer speeds while the latter sacrifices range for large volume data transmission.
Samsung has earlier partnered with US telecommunication company, Verizon, to supply 28 GHz bands for 5G services inside homes, expected to rollout in the US by third quarter this year. While both bands are equally important in 5G networks, Kim stated that they are now leaning towards marketing their newly-introduced 3.5 GHz bands.
The 3.5 GHz bands have some technical advantages. The bandwidth needed to achieve a stable 5G connection with 3.5 GHz bands reportedly drops from the 800 MHz of the 28 GHz band to 100 MHz. Meanwhile, the number of antennae required drops from 1,024 to 64.
“Since we’ve already broken the tech ceiling required to achieve a stable 5G network in the 28 GHz band, we have no doubts in our ability to provide top-quality products in the 3.5 GHz band,” he added.
Samsung is planning to start 5G transmission by December of this year with full-scale commercialization set for March of next year. At this stage, it may be hard to tell who is leading the race between Samsung and Huawei with each one partnering with different telecommunication companies across the globe.
It’s also unclear who will come out with a 5G-enabled smartphone first. Rumors swirling claim that Samsung’s next flagship, the Galaxy S10, expected to launch next year, would be the company’s first 5G-enabled device. Huawei, on the other hand, has already announced that they will have a prototype device by next year with production set for early 2020.
The battle for 5G is truly heating up, with both these tech giants claiming superiority over the other. – Rappler.com
Add a comment
How does this make you feel?
There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.