Saskatchewan telecommunication provider SaskTel will be building its 5G network exclusively using Samsung hardware, the telco announced in a March 15 news release.
SaskTel will be using Samsung’s equipment for its Radio Access Network (RAN), as well as the network’s core. The company will also bolster its 4G network with Samsung hardware.
SaskTel provides internet, TV, wireline and carrier services in Saskatchewan. It currently services around 1.4 million customers in the region across all of its services. In the 2019 600MHz spectrum auction, the company purchased three licenses for around CA$12 million, covering around 1.1 million people in its service region.
“The increased speeds, reliability, and capacity that 5G brings will support remote work, virtual health, and distance education,” said Doug Burnett, SaskTel chief executive officer, in the press release.
The company announced last year that it will commit CA$1.6 billion to expanding its networks through 2025.
Samsung, along with Nokia and Ericsson, aggressively targeted Canada’s 5G hardware vendor market amid the mounting political pressure against Huawei, previously one of Canada’s largest network hardware suppliers.
Samsung inked its first major deal with Videotron in 2019. Then in June 2020, it netted an agreement with Telus, one of the Big Three carriers in Canada, to build its 5G network. The agreement was a large stride for the company in its quest to cement its position in Canada’s network supplier space.