Qualcomm and Samsung Join Forces To Develop Small Cells For 5G Networks

Accelerating the pace towards 5G : this is the overall vibe that emerges from the announcement made by Qualcomm and Samsung at the “Qualcomm 4G / 5G summit” that took place in Hong Kong.

The collaboration aims to develop and commercialize small 5G cells which are capable of ensuring “enormous network speeds, capacity, coverage and very low latency.”

Qualcomm had announced their 10nm chipset specifically designed for 5G NR small cell use in May this year and now their collaboration with Samsung will create these small cell units by utilizing the same chipset: the FSM100xx.

The FSM100xx version offers the most advanced performance in the 5G class, including the functionality of the Mimo station base in a compact performance. Combined with Samsung’s expertise in the 4G / 5G infrastructure, the 5G small cell built by Qualcomm with the Koreans will provide the network operators with a tool that’s capable of supporting both outdoor and indoor deployment.

These cells are pivotal to the 5G platform – they broadcast high frequency sub-6 and mmWave bands and a number of them will have to be installed in order to take advantage of a few of the 5G NR’s ambitions.

The agreement was announced by the president of the American chipmaker Cristiano Amon and the senior vice-president of the Korean group, Woojune Kim.

It is expected that the first cells resulting from the collaboration between Samsung and Qualcomm will reach the market in 2020.