Canadian telecoms operator Telus has selected Samsung Electronics as its 5G network infrastructure supplier, the latter said in a release.
Samsung has signed four new 5G contracts in the last seven months, including operators in Canada, U.S. and New Zealand.
“We are pleased to select Samsung as a 5G vendor for our mobile services, leveraging the enhanced network capability, exceptional connectivity and state of the art technology inherent in their 5G solutions,” said Darren Entwistle, President and CEO at Telus.
“We are excited to have earned TELUS’ trust to roll out next generation 5G services together, leveraging our successful experiences in commercializing 5G across multiple leading markets,” said Paul Kyungwhoon Cheun, President and Head of Networks Business at Samsung Electronics.
In a separate release, the Canadian carrier announced that it is rolling out its initial 5G network in Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, and the Greater Toronto Area, and will continue to expand to an additional 26 markets across Canada throughout the rest of the year.
Telus’ 5G network will support the latest 5G-ready devices, including the Samsung Galaxy 5G S20 series, LG V60 ThinQ 5G Dual Screen and Motorola Edge+.
Telus had recently announced that European vendors Ericsson and Nokia will also support the deployment of its 5G network.
Rival operator Bell recently said that its 5G service is already available in Montréal, the Greater Toronto Area, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.
Bell also said its initial 5G offering will expand to more cities across the country in the coming months.
Earlier this month, Bell Canada selected Ericsson 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) technology to support its nationwide 5G mobile and fixed wireless access deployment. The carrier had started the construction of its 5G network this year, using equipment from Finnish vendor Nokia.
Meanwhile, Rogers Communications had already begun rolling out 5G network in select cities around Canada using equipment from Swedish vendor Ericsson.
Rogers’ initial 5G cities are Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. The telco said that it will eventually expand into over 20 more markets by the end of 2020.
In a previous conference call with investors Rogers’ CEO Joe Natale said that the company expects to start deploying spectrum sharing technology later this year. The executive said that the deployment of this technology will allow Rogers to use its current 4G spectrum for the provision of 5G.
The government of Canada recently announced a six-month postponement of its 3.5 GHz spectrum auction process, to allow the telecommunications industry to maintain its focus on providing essential services to Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government confirmed that the auction is now scheduled to start on June 15, 2021.
In April last year, the Canadian government raised C$3.47 billion ($2.6 billion) in the sale of 104 licenses of 600 MHz spectrum.
