Samsung looks to 5G to boost network business

Firm hopes to become a major rival to Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia

Samsung hopes to become a leader in the 5G network market to rival to Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia.

Kim Young-ki, Samsung's network business chief, told Reuters that the company plans to move quickly in the 5G space, and will generate more than ₩10tn (around £5.8bn) in annual sales of 5G equipment by 2022.

This is a lofty target given that the firm's networks business generated less than ₩3tn in revenue last year compared with ₩100tn from mobile device sales.

"We plan to move quickly and want to be at least among the top three with 5G," Young-ki said. "It's important to get in early."

In order to make its mark on the 5G networking business, Samsung has formed a task force comprising 100 employees from the company's smartphones, network communications, consumer electronics and semiconductors departments.

"The team is the quintessence of each team's combined capacity in order for Samsung Electronics to prevail in the 5G network market," Kim told Korean media.

Samsung's revelation that it aims to be one of the biggest players in 5G came as the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said that it wants 5G wireless to be available from 2020.

FCC chairman Tim Wheeler wants the US to take the lead in developing a wireless 5G standard, and has revealed that he will open up a load of high-band spectrum for 5G applications that he calls the Spectrum Frontiers proceeding to make this happen.

Europe too has high hopes for 5G and has signed deals with Japan and the US to ensure that the technology's true potential is delivered.

Samsung believes that 5G will have bigger repercussions for businesses, and that the next-gen wireless connectivity, which it claims will be 10 times the speed of 4G networks, will revolutionise the workplace.

"Let's say there is an employee who is in charge of the foreign inventory. Even if you don't go to the warehouses in the trading countries, flying a drone over the containers will allow the employee to take a look at the inventory as if he or she were actually there," said Kim.

"Such a video streaming service requires a data flow that is 10 times faster than now [which will only be available with 5G]."