Samsung Electronics has signed a $6.6 billion deal with U.S. carrier Verizon Communications to provide 5G wireless solutions in the US. According to a Samsung filing, the contract runs through December 2025.
The deal marks one of Samsung’s biggest 5G contracts since Korea’s largest corporation decided to invest in networking and telecom equipment. It comes as a major blow to Finnish networking company Nokia, as Verizon is one of their biggest customers. Samsung’s mega-deal with Verizon also comes as the U.S. government has increased sanctions on the Chinese company Huawei.
Nokia refused to comment, saying in a statement: “We play a critical role in enabling Verizon’s 3G and 4G networks and continue to work with them to accelerate innovation in 5G.
Samsung said in a statement that they are pleased to expand their long-standing partnership with Verizon to advance the next-generation network evolution. With this latest long-term strategic contract, they will continue to push the boundaries of 5G innovation to enhance mobile experiences for Verizon's customers.
Samsung had a 3% market share of the global total telecom equipment market in 2019, behind Huawei with 28%, Nokia's 16%, Ericsson's 14%, ZTE's 10% and Cisco's 7%, according to market research firm Dell'Oro Group. It looks like they want to gain more market share with the introduction of 5G Technology.
