Samsung has been pushing at the door of major mobile operators for some years and Huawei’s exclusions in North America and parts of Europe have added impetus. Now, a significant deal with Vodafone for Open RAN 5G equipment in the UK at 2,500 rural sites suggests those efforts are starting to bear fruit in Europe (see Wireless Watch June 14 2021). This follows some earlier signals by major European telcos that Samsung is welcome as an alternative supplier of RAN equipment, to avoid choice boiling down to little more than the Nordic duopoly of Ericsson and Nokia, and possibly Japan’s NEC. Deutsche Telekom (DT) selected Samsung kit to trial 5G Standalone (SA) in the Czech Republic city of Pilsen early…