Samsung is bolstering its ability to serve U.S. carriers like Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and Sprint as the operators roll out 5G services through the acquisition of Virginia-based vendor TeleWorld Solutions (TWS) for an undisclosed sum. The move could make Samsung a more compelling vendor alternative to rivals Nokia and Ericsson, and help alleviate some of the pressure domestic operators are facing because the government has banned the use of equipment and services from China-based vendors Huawei and ZTE.

TWS is involved in multiple areas of network services, including consulting, site acquisition, design, deployment, testing, and the enablement of cloud services. It will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics America and elevate the vendor’s ability to support the delivery of 5G and related network services on multiple fronts in the United States, according to Samsung.

"The combination of Samsung Networks and TeleWorld Solutions enhances our ability to design, deploy, test, and optimize networks with new customers and our expanding deployments with existing customers in North America," wrote Alok Shah, VP of networks strategy at Samsung, in response to questions.

"TWS is a longstanding Samsung partner that offers thought leadership and experience to operators," he explained, adding that TWS has "strong relationships" with multiple operators in North America. "Samsung sees a tremendous services opportunity over the next decade as 5G networks are launched and expanded, and together Samsung and TWS intend to bring a broad set of capabilities to operators in the region."

Samsung intends to keep the leadership team intact at TWS and says the company will continue to manage the business while addressing new prospects as operators upgrade networks to 5G in the United States. "The combination of Samsung Networks and TWS is about addressing growing demand, fulfilling on capacity, and ensuring that across Samsung's services business that we have a broader set of competent, skilled professionals," Shah added.

Samsung has earned some contracts for 5G radio access network (RAN) deployments in the United States with Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint, but the vendor is noticeably behind larger RAN vendors Huawei, Ericsson, and Nokia in that regard. Samsung hasn’t disclosed how many 5G RAN deals it has to date and is unlikely to do so any time soon.

“We’re working with a number of leading operators in our target markets” of Korea, Japan, the United States, and some countries in Europe, Shah aid during an interview at MWC Los Angeles 2019.

“We think we’ve done well in those locations. There’s this sort of race to have the biggest number of contracts, and I think the reality is that we don’t have [that] kind of global operator coverage today and so I think it’s not a race that really makes sense for us to be a part of,” Shah said.

Samsung’s planned acquisition of TWS also appears to be rooted in the latter’s strengths in radio frequency testing, design, and installation amid industry-wide efforts to virtualize network functions. “We’ve been offering virtualized core networks for some time, but in the RAN we think we’re moving pretty aggressively toward virtualized architecture,” Shah told SDxCentral in October 2019.

The South Korean vendor has been operating in the United States for more than 40 years. It has invested more than $30 billion in the market and currently employs more than 20,000 employees across the country, according to the company.