Samsung partnered with Polish operator Play on 4G and 5G trials, as it looks to pave the way for expanding its presence in the European network market.

As part of the tie-up, the pair said the test will focus on the capabilities of Samsung’s offerings, including 4G radios, 5G Massive MIMO radios and baseband units, operating on low- and mid-band spectrum.

The trials will also seek to assess 2G and 3G standards compatibility with the latest available technologies.

Play expressed belief Samsung’s kit will open the door to “even greater network capacity and base station performance”, while the vendor highlighted its capability to help operators “increase flexibility in network management and achieve cost efficiency”.

Michal Ziolkowski, CTO at Play, said the move allowed the operator to “choose the best solutions for the rollout of our network”.

The majority of Play’s current network is supplied by Huawei, but Poland has introduced legislation that would prevent operators from buying products sold by “high-risk vendors” and require them to remove products they have already deployed within the next five years. Huawei is deemed by many countries to be high-risk. Ericsson also supplies a small portion of Play’s network.

Testing of the networks will begin across Play’s labs and commercial networks in Warsaw in the current quarter.

Europe vision
Samsung’s head of networks in Europe Thomas Riedel described the trial as a “meaningful milestone” for the two companies, adding the vendor will continue its efforts to expand its presence on the continent and globally.

It already supports commercial services across markets including South Korea, the US, Japan, Canada and New Zealand.

In alignment with its European ambitions, earlier this year it completed what it touted as the first standalone (SA) 5G trial in the Czech Republic in cooperation with Deutsche Telekom.