Is Samsung pushing to become the #2 wireless infrastructure OEM in the USA? Samsung has been gaining market share with the larger American carriers. Amazingly they have finally grabbed share in Verizon markets. I don’t mean just for the FWA rollout, I mean for the mobile markets for 4G moving to 5G. Samsung appears to have made a dent in the #1 carrier in the USA. How did that happen?
Word on the street is that Samsung is ahead on the 5G roadmap compared to Ericsson and Nokia. They have been displacing the two other US OEMs in a few Verizon markets. If they have the support, then they could take even more market share.
It is amazing that Samsung was able to break in. What do you think the other OEMs did wrong? It’s a huge undertaking to have a carrier allow a new OEM to move in.
For those of you that don’t know, the carriers have to have a full support staff for a new OEM. It’s not easy to maintain a new OEM. The thing with 5G is that it’s so new that all the carriers want the best solution. We all know that Samsung makes a great product, they have an amazing roadmap to 5G for both FWA and Mobility. They’re proving to the US carriers that they have what it takes to deliver in the US.
Samsung’s 5G strategy has been going very well in the USA. They offer a massive MIMO solution that migrates into 5G quite well. They have the technology to make it happen. They also have a fixed wireless solution that the larger carriers have been impressed with. As far as technology goes, they have a great solution. They are determined to prove it works on a large scale.
Their problem in the past has been supporting the carriers in the USA. Samsung never built up the huge support staffs that Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson did years ago in the USA. Then Nokia won share in T-Mobile which helped solidify their status in the USA even before they bought Alcatel-Lucent.
With the OEM market in the USA being slow for the past few years, it made the incumbent infrastructure OEMs lazy. Then 5G started moving faster than anyone thought, it may have caught Ericsson and Nokia off guard. Nokia was working to merge Alcatel-Lucent into their company and process, taking over and steering the ship. Ericsson has been struggling to find stability for the past year. This made the market ripe for another OEM to step in. Hello Samsung.
While the other OEMs have been in tight with T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T, they have been falling behind in releasing the solutions that are needed to move ahead. Samsung has done a nice job of providing solutions that work today with a solid roadmap for tomorrow.
Samsung has been a trusted infrastructure wireless OEM of Sprint since the Network Vision deployment. They have been a solid OEM for Sprint and Softbank. They are not new to the infrastructure game, in fact, two years ago people thought they were going to leave the market. Then, they created an amazing 5G solution.
Can they provide the support to back it up? In the past, Samsung has been great at technology but fell short on support in the USA. They never built up the resources that the other OEMs have. Now they have to ramp up to American support services. It will take a lot of support. Maybe they need a partner; maybe they can do it on their own, or, maybe a hybrid model.
Samsung has struggled in the US market in the past. Can they provide the ongoing support and build up relationships in the USA? Can they become the third largest infrastructure OEM by displacing the two larger OEMs in the US market? While they replace Ericsson or Nokia as the new #2 in the US?
Remember that they also have a very strong and popular smartphone product. This makes them a real threat to the other two since they could potentially offer package deals. It could be the one thing that they could use to gain more share.
The other two OEMs have been fighting their own battles. Ericsson has had its management problems; we’ll see if they have what it takes to right the ship. Nokia has taken over Alcatel-Lucent, we’ll see if they took their eye off the ball while concentrating on the merger.
Samsung has remained focused on new technology; they didn’t have the problems that the other OEMs did. They remained focused on 5G FWA and mobility. That is an advantage right now. Can the other OEMs catch up or is there a new disruptor out there ready to walk in. For the US carriers and 5G, time to market is absolutely critical! They all want to be first, one way or another. It could be fixed or mobile, but bragging rights are a huge advantage in the US, just ask John Legere at T-Mobile, you know he wants to be first.
It’s not a paved highway for infrastructure. If the carriers have their way, then ORAN, open RAN networks will allow new companies to walk in with new solutions. The idea is for the carriers to spur competition and lower costs through competition. Security is an issue, but the cost is also the solution. Learn more about ORAN at https://wade4wireless.com/2018/07/05/what-are-open-ran-systems-pros-and-cons/ or https://wade4wireless.com/2018/07/22/will-open-ran-be-the-start-of-new-deployment-business-models/ when you can.
I am not sure if you know, it is very hard to push out an existing OEM. They have relationships and support within any carrier. It’s tough, but not impossible. Look at Samsung; they are now in AT&T and Verizon in spite of the dominating Ericsson and Nokia in major carriers. This solidifies their status as a solid player in the US market. Let’s face it, the incumbent advantage is there, but it’s become less and less of an issue as we move past LTE and into the 5G world. New companies could move in and take advantage of this new world and the eagerness of carriers to work with someone new that has new technology at a better cost.
If you think you can do this, great, but be prepared to provide non-stop support, there’s a reason the larger OEMs cost more, they have to provide constant support, that’s a lot of labor. Technology isn’t enough. You need the people to back it up with testing and upgrades.
Resources:
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/moorinsights/2018/05/08/samsung-the-new-5g-kid-on-the-north-american-infrastructure-block/#9bbc00771fe1
- https://www.mobileworldlive.com/featured-content/home-banner/samsung-5g-gear-first-to-receive-us-certification/
- https://www.fiercewireless.com/5g/samsung-showing-gains-u-s-network-equipment-market
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/maribellopez/2018/04/19/verizon-samsung-and-the-coming-5g-war/#95358bf2bd9e
- https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/bringing-5g-home-are-consumers-ready-for-5g-fixed-wireless-broadband
- https://www.samsung.com/global/business/networks/insights/white-paper/5g-fixed-wireless-access/
- https://images.samsung.com/is/content/samsung/p5/global/business/networks/insights/white-paper/5g-fixed-wireless-access/global-networks-insight-whitepaper_5g-fixed-wireless-access-0.pdf
Notes:
- OEMs is referring to wireless infrastructure original equipment manufacturers.
- FWA is fixed wireless access.
- Mobility is referring to the mobile wireless network.
- RAN is the radio access network.
- ORAN in the open radio access network:
- http://about.att.com/story/industry_leaders_launch_oran_alliance.html
- https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/news/sprint-joins-oran-alliance-and-lnf/2018/05/
- https://static1.squarespace.com/static/57e95f5abe65943a7a209f26/t/5a96dcda24a694da85b9d1c0/1519836379023/xRAN+Press+Release+MWC2018+180227.pdf
- https://www.lightreading.com/mobile/fronthaul-c-ran/the-futures-bright-the-futures-oran/d/d-id/744294
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