3UK will launch LTE services in the U.K. in 2013, it emerged Friday, as Samsung announced it has won an LTE radio and core network deal with the country's smallest mobile network operator.
The move marks the South Korean vendor's first commercial mobile network rollout in Europe, a presence it aims to build on going forward.
Samsung will deploy LTE base stations, including systems and support, across 3's U.K. network. The two companies will begin trialling the technology this year and aim to launch commercially in 2013.
The U.K.'s mobile operators are all expected to launch LTE services in 2013, with the exception of Everything Everywhere which aims to come to market before the end of 2012, having been granted permission to re-use its 1800-MHz spectrum for LTE. It agreed to sell 2x15 MHz of that spectrum to 3 earlier this week, but is not required to actually clear the spectrum for 3's use for another year.
Like its larger rivals, 3 is also expected to pick up more LTE spectrum early next year when Ofcom is due to auction off 800-MHz and 2.6-GHz bandwidth.
″3's customers will start benefiting from this investment in our core network early next year and those benefits will grow further as we deploy new spectrum,″ said Dave Dyson, CEO of 3UK, in a statement on Friday. ″In Samsung's home market operators are busy turning off 2G. In the U.K. 3 is the only operator without a 2G network.″
Samsung, for its part, touted its experience in LTE network deployments elsewhere in the world.
″We are bringing the full weight of this experience to our deployment with 3UK, and trust this will mark the start of many successful relationships with leading mobile operators based in Europe,″ said Youngky Kim, EVP and general manager, telecommunication systems business, at Samsung Electronics.
The Korean vendor is confident of further European success.
″3UK will be the first of many European operators to benefit from this wealth of experience,″ said Mark Thompson, sales and marketing director, Samsung European Network Operations.