Japanese operator KDDI picked Samsung Electronics to supply virtualised equipment for an open RAN expansion due to start in 2025, which aims to improve energy efficiency, performance and automation.

Samsung stated it will deliver open and virtualised 4G and 5G RAN systems, with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intel and Red Hat supporting the deployment.

The deal covers Samsung’s full suite of compatible equipment covering low- and mid-bands, including advanced Massive MIMO and third-party radios.

It also offers features of the Samsung CognitiV Networks Operations Suite, a platform which automates the lifecycle management of large-scale vRAN buildouts, Samsung stated.

In February 2023, the operator selected Samsung to supply a cloud-native standalone (SA) 5G core network, a year after it turned on what it claimed was the world’s first commercial SA site in Tokyo using vRAN equipment from Samsung and Fujitsu.