AT&T* today announced that it has selected Samsung Electronics America and CommScope to supply the company with its first 5G-ready Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) network solution. Samsung will provide CBRS compliant radios and base station equipment. CommScope was selected as the Spectrum Access System (SAS) provider.
CBRS is an innovative spectrum band which allows both licensed and shared access that helps enable efficient use of finite spectrum resources. We plan to start testing CBRS equipment in our labs early next year and plan to rollout commercial CBRS technology in U.S. cities beginning in late 2019.
As part of the rollout, we will start by using LTE in CBRS Spectrum and then migrate to 5G. We will primarily use the CBRS solution to deliver home and enterprise broadband services. Millions of U.S. households lack access to broadband service, and in many cases a fixed wireless access (FWA) architecture can cost-effectively reach homes and businesses where fiber cannot.
“When we looked at CBRS spectrum, we saw a promising opportunity to use this spectrum band to expand our fixed wireless access network to additional cities across the U.S as well as other opportunities for future use cases,” said Gordon Mansfield, vice president Converged Access and Device Technology. “With 5G on the horizon, we look forward to testing and deploying CBRS equipment to give our customers the best network experience possible.”
“We are excited to build upon our relationship with AT&T with this commercial agreement to bring our newest 5G-ready CBRS solution to their network,” said Wilf Norrlinger, vice president, Networks Division, Samsung Electronics America. “Samsung is a big believer in using LTE-based technologies and 5G innovation to expand broadband availability across the U.S., and we look forward to playing a central role in accelerating this evolution.”
“CommScope has been working on CBRS since day one, helping develop industry standards and policies to further market success in addition to developing our SAS and environmental sensor solutions,” said Ben Cardwell, senior vice president, CommScope Mobility Solutions. “We are thrilled to be working closely with AT&T to help them realize their plans for CBRS and ensure the quality of their SAS services nationwide.”
We help family, friends and neighbors connect in meaningful ways every day. From the first phone call 140+ years ago to mobile video streaming, we innovate to improve lives. We have the nation’s largest and most reliable network and the nation’s best network for video streaming.** We’re building FirstNet just for first responders and creating next-generation mobile 5G. With DIRECTV and DIRECTV NOW, we deliver entertainment people love to talk about. Our smart, highly secure solutions serve over 3 million global businesses – nearly all of the Fortune 1000. And worldwide, our spirit of service drives employees to give back to their communities.
AT&T Communications is part of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T). Learn more at att.com/CommunicationsNews.
AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc. Additional information about AT&T products and services is available at about.att.com. Follow our news on Twitter at @ATT, on Facebook at facebook.com/att and on YouTube at youtube.com/att.
© 2018 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the Globe logo and other marks are trademarks and service marks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.
About Samsung Electronics America, Inc.
Headquartered in Ridgefield Park, N.J., Samsung Electronics America, Inc. (SEA), is a recognized innovative leader in consumer electronics, mobile devices and enterprise solutions. A wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., SEA is pushing beyond the limits of today’s technology and providing consumers and organizations with a portfolio of groundbreaking products in appliances, home entertainment, Internet of Things, mobile computing, smartphones, virtual reality, wireless infrastructure and wearables, in addition to offering leading content and services related to mobile payments, 360-degree VR video, customer support and more. Samsung is a pioneering leader in smartphones and HDTVs in the U.S. and one of America’s fastest growing home appliance brands. To discover more about Samsung, please visit www.samsung.com. For the latest Samsung news, please visit news.samsung.com/us and follow us @SamsungNewsUS
About CommScope
CommScope (NASDAQ: COMM) helps design, build and manage wired and wireless networks around the world. As a communications infrastructure leader, we shape the always-on networks of tomorrow. For more than 40 years, our global team of greater than 20,000 employees, innovators and technologists have empowered customers in all regions of the world to anticipate what’s next and push the boundaries of what’s possible. Discover more at http://www.commscope.com. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn and like us on Facebook. Sign up for our press releases and blog posts.
Source: AT&T Communications