Samsung’s new BBU provides six times greater capacity and flexibility in deployment, designed to support both DRAN and CRAN

Samsung Electronics today announced the commercial availability of its next generation Baseband Unit (BBU), the CDU50. The new solution was first commercialized in Korea and will be commercially launched in the U.S. and other global markets in the second quarter of this year.

Samsung’s CDU50 offers increased performance in comparison to the prior model, while supporting all LTE and 5G NR network frequencies in one unit. The BBU can support both Distributed RAN (DRAN) and Centralized RAN (CRAN) configurations. With these improvements, carriers can achieve increased flexibility in managing a network and meaningful cost reduction.

Key enhanced features of the next generation BBU are:

• Enhancing performance: Six times increase in capacity supporting a greater number of cells and nearly two times faster network throughput with Samsung’s new 5G modem.
• Single unit supporting both LTE and 5G NR: Enables convenient operation of network, and saves installation space while reducing CAPEX and OPEX.
• Supporting both DRAN and CRAN: Increased operational efficiency through improved network reliability and resource management, as well as performance enhancements and cost savings.
• Improving connection flexibility: Support both CPRI and eCPRI connections to bring greater flexibility in network deployments.

“CDU50 delivers a powerful networks product that can help operators migrate from 4G to 5G more smoothly, while reducing costs, and offering greater performance with the same footprint when compared with our previous version,” said Jaeho Jeon, Executive Vice President and Head of R&D, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics.

“Now available in the market, this will enable mobile operators to create a path to providing a higher level of customer service. We’re excited to bring this product to market, and look forward to developing and launching even more powerful versions of networks solutions in the coming years.”