Solid’s bid to supply repeater for London Underground delayed

Solid’s bid to supply repeaters for London Underground’s network has been postponed to next year.

Solid had hoped that the result of the bid would come out by the third quarter of 2020.

The South Korean repeater maker is competing with US’ CommScope to supply distributed antenna systems (DAS) repeaters for UK’s subway. The order is worth around US$50 million.

CommScope had filed patent lawsuits against Solid in May in the US and UK. The company had claimed its Korean counterpart violated its patents related to DAS technology.

Solid is hoping 2021 will be the year it returns to profitability from the order from London as well as wider supply of its 5G mmWave repeaters.

The company launched its first 5G mmWave repeater in September using Intel’s chips.

MmWave have shorter distance and can’t pass through obstacles easier compared to lower spectrums. Using repeaters to amplify their signals allows telcos to install less radio stations for them.

Solid is also developing radio units for Samsung Network’s open-radio access network. This will be for 3.5GHz spectrum.

The radio unit will likely be used with Samsung Network’s digital unit. 

Solid is also likely the supplier for SK Telecom’s RF repeaters that will be rolled out in Germany. SK Telecom is collaborating with Deutsche Telekom and trialing RF repeaters in eight cities there.