Samsung Electronics completed the Open RAN conformance and interoperability testing for its commercial-grade LTE and 5G NR radios on Verizon's network.
The testing, conducted in Samsung's Dallas, Texas laboratory, featured a range of Samsung's leading radios that adhere to O-RAN standards. This included CAT-A radios 4T4R for 700/850 MHz and AWS/PCS bands, CAT-B 64T64R Massive MIMO C-Band radios, and a 16T16R dual-band radio for C-band and CBRS frequencies.
Samsung says the testing reflects its prowess in Massive MIMO technology, particularly through its 64T64R Massive MIMO radio, which has been extensively deployed by Verizon in its nationwide commercial vRAN networks. The integration of these advanced Massive MIMO radios—especially the more complex 64T64R Massive MIMO radios compared to the simpler CAT-A radios—demonstrates Samsung's advanced capabilities in managing sophisticated network technologies.
The testing used Keysight Technologies’ Open RAN distributed unit (O-DU) emulator.
"We’re excited to achieve Open RAN conformance across five key radios in our portfolio compliant with the latest O-RAN and 3GPP standards,” said Jisha Hall, Vice President, Operations, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics America. “This joint work shows how Samsung is empowering forerunning operators like Verizon to deploy virtualized Open RAN, backed by our strong ecosystem and proven expertise in commercial networks for Tier 1 operators in North America, Europe and Asia.”
“O-RAN is a very important component of our network evolution strategy,” said Steven Rice, Vice President of Network Planning at Verizon. By leveraging O-RAN radios and software-driven infrastructure with industry-leading partners like Samsung and Keysight, we continue to drive the industry towards a more open, interoperable environment which will provide greater flexibility, greater innovation and better performance for our customers.”
