A photo image of downtown Japan where many people pass by.

Japan Accelerating
5G in Japan

5G in Japan is going full speed ahead. In March, 2020, all major mobile network operators in the country started 5G commercial services in both the Mid-band and mmWave spectrum and a total of seven smartphones, including Samsung’s Galaxy S20, were released. Ever since the initial launch, all operators are striving to provide quality services to the public. The Japanese government, similar to other countries racing to deploy 5G, is welcoming 5G with open arms and is heavily investing in related industries. Both the government and operators are also keen on discovering killer services that will encourage 5G maturity and expansion. 2021 is expected to be a critical year for Japan as mobile network operators seek to stabilize 5G deployment and enhance performance. Based on our global 5G experiences and our industry leading solutions, Samsung is proud to support the expansion of 5G in Japan.

Supporting 5G across the
Entire Spectrum

Japan is accelerating 5G from all angles with networks being deployed in parallel in the Mid-band spectrum, mmWave spectrum and the Low-band spectrum where prior mobile networks (LTE, 3G, 2G) exist. The next phase includes mobile network operators expanding coverage and enhancing the overall performance. As part of this, the operators are focused on introducing Massive MIMO Radios, which guarantee high performance in the new Mid-band frequencies and mmWave radio solutions that support ultra wide bandwidth. For spectrums that are already occupied by LTE or other previous technologies, Samsung can assist operators with a smooth and uninterrupted migration to 5G. We can offer new 5G radios for urban areas where high capacity is required or support reusing legacy radios with a simple software upgrade for areas with relatively lower traffic such as suburban or rural regions.

Take a Look at Samsung’s Radio Solutions

New Opportunities
for Industries and Enterprises

5G is an industry changer, and Japan is exploring 5G’s impact on digital transformation for Industry 4.0. Enterprises are excited for private 5G networks and are examining diverse services that can improve work environments and increase efficiency. The government is allocating dedicated frequencies for private 5G networks and both mobile network operators and enterprises are planning to build private networks to support a variety of use cases.
Samsung is collaborating with both to provide a solution to support the creation of private 5G networks to power diverse scenarios in smart factories, smart power plants and smart utilities such as drone surveillance and connecting hundreds of CCTVs. Samsung’s private network solution consists of both radios for private network frequencies and the Compact Core. Samsung’s Compact Core was developed with private networks in mind so enterprises can easily build and manage local 5G networks in their own on-premise data centers. By processing all data traffic through a local network, data security is fortified and it is easy to create an MEC environment to support latency sensitive services Samsung’s Compact Core also runs on public cloud platforms and supports remote management functions for efficient operations.

Next-Generation Technologies Unfold
the Path to Future-Proof Networks

Japan is preparing to launch commercial 5G Standalone services at the end of 2021. The standalone architecture will unleash 5G’s true potential and will be the foundation for introducing new, never-before-seen services fit for the 5G era. Therefore, a service oriented network will become key for successful operation and operators must be able to flexibly deploy and manage networks by introducing network slicing. In September, 2020, Samsung and KDDI completed the world’s first 5G end-to-end network slicing demonstration. A full end-to-end network slicing will require a completely virtualized network as well. Samsung is ready to support operators with fully virtualized radio and core solutions.