Saskatchewan’s SaskTel announced on March 15 that Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. would be the sole vendor to supply its 4G/5G Radio Access Network (RAN) and Core. Korean-based Samsung will supply all hardware, software, and associated expertise to ensure the successful deployment of an end-to-end 5G solution.
This would otherwise be a pedestrian corporate deal between a relatively small Canadian telecommunications firm and a global tech giant, but the stakes are high, with global implications. Significantly, while SaskTel has Chinese-based Hauwei equipment for its 4G network, it did not choose to remain with Hauwei for its new network rollout. In this case, the story isn’t so much which company was chosen, but rather, which one was not.
