By Telecom Lead Team: Samsung Electronics is in
competition to win a LTE contract from a leading carrier in India and expects
the negotiations to conclude in the first half.
Samsung has also won two business deals to sell LTE 4G
equipments in the U.S. The company gained orders from top and mid-tier
U.S. mobile-phone operators. An official announcement will be made around May.
The company is also in discussions with Clearwire Corp. in
the U.S. for a possible contract, said I.P. Hong, head of the marketing group
at Samsung’s network-equipment business.
Samsung’s telecom business posts operating profit of KRW 2.64
trillion
Samsung’s telecom businesses reached quarterly earnings of
KRW 17.82 trillion, up 52 percent from the previous year. Operating profit
for the businesses also touch KRW 2.64 trillion.
The telecom businesses including mobile communications and
telecommunication systems posted a quarterly operating profit of KRW 2.64
trillion for the period.
Samsung won an order from KDDI in Japan to supply LTE
equipment. The company was among three vendors picked by Sprint Nextel Corp. in
2010 for a project worth as much as $5 billion to upgrade networks.
The telecommunication system business will further solidify
its leadership in the wireless network market with the expansion of the LTE
service in Korea and North America.
According to a report in Bloomberg, the deals would boost
Samsung’s presence as an equipment provider in one of the world’s most advanced
4G markets.
The 4G equipment market is dominated by Ericsson, Huawei
Technologies and Nokia Siemens Networks.
Samsung, which aims to be one of top three makers of
telecommunications gear such as routers and switches by 2015, was set to
overtake Ericsson as the largest vendor of LTE base stations in Asia last year,
researcher NPD In-Stat said in November. The company seeks to be among the
world’s three largest LTE equipment vendors globally this year, Hong said.
Before last year, Samsung’s focus had been on developing
products using WiMax technology, an alternative 4G standard supported by Intel
Corp. Growth of the WiMax market is slowing as operators’ switch to LTE.
Samsung will continue supporting existing WiMax customers, Hong added.
