Samsung Electronics America, Inc. and t3 Broadband today announced an agreement to deliver 5G-ready Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) network solutions to Mercury Broadband, a leading provider of high-speed Internet across rural markets in the U.S. Midwest. The collaboration will enable Mercury Broadband to leverage CBRS to deliver fixed wireless access (FWA) broadband connectivity and enhanced services to customers in hard-to-reach, remote areas across several states.
With nearly 30 percent of Americans in rural areas living without a broadband connection, according to Pew Research Center, the digital divide remains an ongoing issue in the United States. CBRS—a radio-frequency spectrum from 3.5GHz to 3.7GHz—can help close this gap by extending Internet access in remote and rural locations. It can also be used to deliver FWA to consumers, while offering operators and private enterprises a pathway to 5G.
Through the agreement, t3 Broadband will provide Mercury Broadband with Samsung’s latest CBRS solutions, including its powerful 64T64R Massive MIMO radios and CDU50 baseband units. They will be implemented at more than 500 FWA sites across Mercury Broadband’s network in Kansas, Missouri and Indiana, before expanding to additional states through 2025. Samsung and t3 will support service requests, while t3 will oversee engineering of the Mercury Broadband network.
“Samsung and t3 Broadband have delivered a solution that will make a real difference for our customers in rural areas, enabling us to offer them the best in broadband connectivity,” said Garrett Wiseman, Chief Executive Officer, Mercury Broadband. “Everyone should have access to stable, high-speed Internet service, no matter their location, and with CBRS, we can extend our wireless network to more hard-to-reach areas. Samsung and t3‘s reliable 5G-capable solution will support us and our customers as we expand.”
Enhancing Speeds & Services with Samsung CBRS
During trials of several active CBRS sites across Mercury Broadband’s footprint in 2H 2021, Samsung’s CBRS solutions introduced significant performance improvements that set their solution apart, including:
- A 119 percent, more than double, increase in speeds on average across a site, compared to other vendors and past implementations.
- Increased spectral efficiency—the amount of data that is delivered over a spectrum band—through use of Samsung’s Massive MIMOs, increasing coverage, bandwidth speeds and reliability, especially at the cell edge where customers are able to maintain a stronger connection than other solutions.
- Overall reductions in OpEx and CapEx costs through optimization of the number of towers forecast for use (from 2,500 to 1,000), while still maximizing service to all customers.
Going forward, Mercury Broadband plans to leverage Samsung’s 5G-ready CBRS solutions to expand its service offerings through FWA. This includes offering new services for businesses, as well as providing smart home experiences such as an advanced managed Wi-Fi solution that will provide consumers the ability to manage a range of functions—from home security to appliances—via a single device.
“We’re pleased to combine our expertise in serving rural communities with Samsung’s CBRS solutions to help Mercury Broadband bring enhanced wireless connectivity to communities that historically haven’t been reached,” said Chris Crowe, Chief Executive Officer for t3 Broadband. “Mercury Broadband has already made substantial progress in closing the digital divide for their customers, and looks forward to working with Samsung and t3 to expand the possibilities to an even broader population.”
The deployment for Mercury Broadband is part of an agreement between Samsung and t3 that was initially announced in September 2021 to deliver 4G and 5G network solutions to regional service providers.
“We’re excited to kick off our collaboration with t3 Broadband by supporting Mercury Broadband in its mission to expand wireless connectivity across rural America,” said Imran Akbar, Vice President and Head of New Business Team, Networks Business, Samsung Electronics America. “Our CBRS solutions bring powerful, reliable 5G connectivity to the areas that need it most, and we look forward to teaming with t3 to boost wireless connectivity in even more communities across the U.S.”
Samsung Networks has pioneered the successful delivery of 5G end-to-end solutions including chipsets, radios, and core. Through ongoing research and development, Samsung drives the industry to advance 5G networks with its market-leading product portfolio from fully virtualized RAN and Core to private network solutions and AI-powered automation tools. The company is currently providing network solutions to mobile operators that deliver connectivity to hundreds of millions of users around the world.
