Dublin, Ireland - April 10, 2013 - Three, Ireland’s largest high speed network and fastest growing mobile operator, today announced that it has selected Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, market leaders in LTE solutions, as its sole provider of LTE Radio Access Network (RAN) and LTE core infrastructure equipment. The deployment marks Samsung’s second commercial mobile network roll-out in Europe and its first in Ireland.
As part of the agreement, Samsung will deploy LTE base stations, including all associated systems and network support services, across Three Ireland’s network nationwide, with the planned service launch in Dublin, August 2013.
Welcoming the announcement, Robert Finnegan, CEO of Three Ireland, commented: “Following on from Three’s successful win of a strong 4G spectrum portfolio in the recent LTE spectrum auction, today’s announcement marks a further milestone in our 4G roll-out strategy and further demonstrates our commitment to maintaining our No.1 leadership position in providing mobile broadband and data services to Irish consumers.
We are delighted to be partnering with Samsung, market leaders in LTE solutions. Their advanced network solutions will allow us deliver a market-leading 4G experience offering faster speeds of up to 100Mbps for our customers using mobile broadband on smartphones, tablets and laptops. Customers will start to see the benefits later this year, which will open countless opportunities and will change the way people work and live allowing them to interact in a better, more efficient way.”
Youngky Kim, Executive Vice President and Head of Networks Business at Samsung Electronics, commented: “Samsung is delighted to partner with Three Ireland to build the first Irish LTE network. This contract will spur Samsung to accelerate our business in Europe. We will bring the highest quality of LTE experience which has been proved in several of the leading LTE markets.”
Mark Thompson, Sales and Marketing Director, Samsung Networks Europe, commented: “We are proud to be collaborating with Three Ireland in its endeavor to provide best in class customer experience for end users. This latest LTE contract demonstrates the growing interest in Samsung’s network solutions. Three Ireland customers will benefit from Samsung’s market-leading LTE solutions whilst Three will benefit from working with a stable supplier, synergies across the Three Group and with Samsung”.
Following the success of Samsung’s LTE deployment in the US, Asia and the Middle East, Samsung continues to strengthen its market presence in Europe. As part of this strategy, earlier in 2011 Samsung founded a dedicated organization, the SNE (Samsung Networks Europe), as the center of its 4G business in Europe.
Samsung’s distinguished LTE solution is backed by over 30 years of experience and leadership in developing and commercializing world first telecom technologies. Based on its wide range of field-experience in OFDMA technologies, Samsung has already successfully partnered with dozens of mobile service providers, helping them to implement the most advanced 4G solutions.