Samsung Electronics has been chosen as one of the main suppliers of fifth-generation network equipment for Japan’s second largest mobile operator. 

According to foreign media and industry insiders on Monday, KDDI Corporation picked Samsung as well as Finland’s Nokia and Sweden’s Ericsson as equipment suppliers for some 53-thousand 5G base stations the Tokyo-based firm plans to build across Japan by 2023. 

Samsung declined to reveal further details of the contract, but market watchers speculate the five-year deal amounts to two billion U.S. dollars. 

The South Korean tech has supplied 3G and 4G equipment to KDDI. Samsung is also supplying 5G equipment to South Korean mobile operators and Verizon in the United States.