Samsung just deepened its grip on Canada's telecom infrastructure. The Korean tech giant announced it's been tapped by Videotron, one of Canada's key mobile operators, to modernize its network with a cloud-native 5G Non-Standalone and 4G LTE Core Gateway solution. The deal marks a significant expansion from Samsung's existing Radio Access Network (RAN) partnership with Videotron that started in 2019, positioning Samsung as an end-to-end infrastructure provider in the competitive Canadian market.
Samsung Electronics is making serious moves in the North American telecom infrastructure game. The company announced today it's been selected by Videotron to deploy a comprehensive 5G and 4G core network solution, marking a strategic evolution from hardware partner to full-stack infrastructure provider.
The deal represents more than just another equipment contract. It's Samsung's latest play to establish itself as a viable alternative to traditional telecom infrastructure giants Ericsson and Nokia in a market that's been dominated by European vendors for decades. For Videotron, which serves over 4.3 million mobile customers as Canada's fourth-largest carrier, the move signals confidence in Samsung's ability to deliver mission-critical core network technology, not just radio equipment.
"Samsung's success delivering our RAN infrastructure gave us confidence in their ability to support our Core network," Mohamed Drif, Senior Vice-President and Chief Technology Officer at Videotron, told Samsung Newsroom. "Their solution leverages open, industry-standard platforms that provide the operational flexibility we need as we elevate service for our customers in Quebec and expand our digital-first mobile and home internet brand, Fizz, across Canada."
The technical architecture reveals Samsung's strategy of building on industry-standard components rather than proprietary systems. The deployment runs on PowerEdge servers powered by EPYC 9005 Server CPUs, with OpenShift handling the Kubernetes orchestration. This approach gives Videotron the operational flexibility to avoid vendor lock-in while maintaining the automation and scalability benefits of cloud-native infrastructure.
