Samsung continued its radio access network (RAN) market gains, scoring a deal to provide 4G LTE and 5G-ready RAN equipment to U.S. cable service provider Mediacom Communications. The work is targeted at expanding rural broadband coverage and bridging the digital divide.

Mediacom plans to use the Samsung RAN equipment for fixed-wireless access (FWA) services that will tap the cable company’s Citizen Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum holdings. Mediacom spent $29.5 million on 576 CBRS spectrum licenses during the Federal Communications Commission’s Auction 105 in 2020.

Samsung said it would supply its complete 5G-ready RAN, including CBRS radio unit, CDU50 digital unit that integrates the digital unit (DU) and centralized unit (CU) into a single form factor, and unified service manager (USM).

The two companies early last year trialed the equipment and spectrum combination in Marshalltown, Illinois. It found speeds up to 200 Mb/s on the downlink and 20 Mb/s on the uplink using 80-megahertz of CBRS spectrum at a line-of-sight distance of nine miles from the transmitting tower. They noted the CBRS spectrum “is well-suited for delivering FWA services in the rural environments it serves.”

Mediacom currently provides high-speed internet, video, and phone service to approximately 1.5 million locations across 22 states. It’s using the FWA service to expand that reach without having to deploy a more extensive – and costly – fiber footprint.

“By combining Samsung’s broad experience in wireless networks with our commitment to bringing broadband to smaller U.S. markets, we will be able to quickly and efficiently deliver quality broadband services to more consumers in underserved areas,” Mediacom CTO JR Walden noted in a statement.

CBRS spectrum includes a total of 150 megahertz of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band. Access to that spectrum is through a multi-tiered access program that includes tier-one incumbents with “protected status,” including the Department of Defense for use by Navy ship radars and registered fixed satellite receiving stations; a tier two for “priority access licenses” (PAL), which is where Mediacom’s holdings are located; and tier three for “general authorized” channels.

Access to that spectrum is through a group of Spectrum Access System administrators comprised of CommScope, Federated Wireless, Google, and Sony.

Some carriers have started to trial use of that spectrum to help power their 5G network deployments.

Verizon last month said it conducted a 5G data session trial with Ericsson that showed it was able to use both the shared and licensed versions of the CBRS spectrum to boost 5G network capacity. Verizon, which spent nearly $1.9 billion on 557 CBRS spectrum licenses, said it plans to use that spectrum to supplement the current use of its licensed C-Band and millimeter-wave (mmWave) spectrum for its 5G network.

However, AT&T is being more cautious in its CBRS approach.

Gordon Mansfield, VP of mobility and access architecture at AT&T, explained during an interview at the recent ConnectX event in Denver that some enterprises are asking for help in deploying private wireless networks using CBRS spectrum. These are deployments using the tier-three access model that limits control over those spectrum holdings.

“We’ll certainly build a CBRS network, but we’re making sure that when we build that CBRS network we’ve got a path, a relatively simple path to add licensed spectrum should they hit what’s needed at a future date,” Mansfield said. “There’s a lot of value in private networks, but I think people are much better off having some level of relationship with a carrier that has licensed spectrum.”

The Mediacom deal is the latest RAN score for Samsung.

The company released its first 5G vRAN portfolio in early 2021 following its blockbuster RAN agreement with Verizon, which was the first operator to commercially deploy the new equipment.

The vendor earlier this year struck a deal with Dish Network to provide its 5G open radio access network (RAN) platform in support of the carrier’s long-simmering nationwide network deployment plans. The multi-year agreement will see Samsung Networks Business provide Dish Network with its 5G virtualized RAN (vRAN) software that is designed to run on commercial hardware.

Samsung also gained a foothold in Vodafone’s plan to deploy 2,500 open RAN sites in the southwest of England and most of Wales.

The vendor earlier this year was a core piece of the world’s first 5G standalone open RAN site. That work was with Japan’s KDDI and Fujitsu, and used Samsung’s virtualized RAN software running on commercial off-the-shelf servers, Samsung’s baseband, and Fujitsu radios connected via open interfaces.

Samsung has been expected to gain market share in the west following pressure from governments to remove equipment used by China-based vendors like Huawei and ZTE. MTN Consulting recently noted that Samsung posted the second-most market share gain last year based on its RAN and networking equipment.

UPDATE: This story has been updated with more details on the equipment used and test results.