In an official blog post, Samsung has announced that it will team up with LG U+, LG Group's mobile phone operator unit, to jointly work on 5G technology, a move that will strengthen the two companies in the highly competitive telecommunications industry.
The partnership will also widen South Korea's leadership worldwide in research for 5G technology, leading to the creation of standards for what is considered to be the next step in innovations for mobile telecommunications.
"This partnership will help us drive R&D, which in turn will power innovation in the global telecommunications industry," said Samsung Electronics executive vice president of R&D in Network Business DongSoo Park in a statement.
Park added that the development of 5G networks will require the combination of several new technologies, which will be brought together by Samsung and LG in the partnership.
LG U+ executive vice president of Service and Development Sun Tae Kim added that the two companies will be together preparing for the 5G era, looking to become leaders in the new technology, not just in South Korea but in the whole world.
At the event where the memorandum of understanding between Samsung and LG U+ was signed, an in-depth discussion on how the two companies will collaborate was also featured, resulting in an agreement for a "5G Readiness Target" of the year 2020.
The partnership between Samsung and LG U+ will focus on three specific areas, namely 5G global spectrum identification and acquisition, 5G technology co-development and 5G technology global standardization.
The advent of the exciting new technology carries expectations of exponentially increasing the capabilities of cellular data, while significantly reducing the latency of the network and operating costs. However, to be able to tap into the massive potential of 5G technology, it is important that industry partnerships can be set up for further collaboration on its development.
In addition to the partnership with LG U+ within South Korea, Samsung has entered into partnerships with different operators in leading LTE markets all over the world, including collaborative agreements with operators from Europe, Japan and South Korea.
Samsung has also been active as a member of several organizations focusing on the development and standardization of 5G technology, including the IMT-2020 group of the International Telecommunication Union, the World Radiocommunication Conference, the 5G Forum in South Korea and the 5G Public Private Partnership of Europe.
Additionally, Samsung has accepted an active part in exploring several organizatioins in 5G technology development, such as 5G Public Private Partnership in Europe, which is also known as 5G PPP.
Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns | Flickr
