SK Telecom has selected Samsung, Ericsson and Nokia for supplying 5G equipment, Bloomberg reports.

This will be a big setback for Huawei and ZTE. Huawei is the largest telecom equipment maker in the world.

Samsung and SK Telecom will start 5G commercial deployments in October 2018 using Non-Standalone (NSA) architecture. NSA uses legacy 4G LTE network for mobility control, and transmits gigabit speed data traffic through both 4G and 5G networks.

JongRyeol Kang, EVP, ICT Infra Center, at SK Telecom, said: “Today, 5G is already a reality for SK Telecom as we move forward to create the best mobile 5G network and offer brand new experiences to our customers.”

Samsung Electronics will supply 5G solutions, including core and RAN, compliant to 5G New Radio (NR) standard based on 3GPP Release 15, to SK Telecom.

Contela is selected to co-develop 5G Small Cell with SK Telecom and ETRI for Project of Intelligent 5G Small Cell Technology Development. This project aims to commercialize 5G Small Cells in the telecommunication networks.

Contela will develop low-powered and compact 5G Small Cells which support 3.5GHz and 28GHz (5G frequencies) with its proprietary technologies. Contela is providing the world first LTE Small Cells to SK Telecom in Korea and exporting LTE Small Cells to Japan and the US.