Turkcell has signed a memorandum of understanding with Huawei as it looks to double down on developing 4.5G and 5G technologies with the Chinese vendor.
It builds upon an agreement signed in 2016 and will involve exploring technologies for the Internet of Things and smart cities applications.
Joint teams will be set up to explore Internet of Things standardisation, and how smart cities can be realised by using local production methods and software.
Turkcell Chairman of the Board of Directors Ahmet Akça said: “As Turkcell, we are making long-term collaborations in order to bring Turkey to a level that produces and develops its own technology. We believe that developing domestic technology in 4.5G and 5G is an important opportunity for our country to make a new leap forward not only in technology but also in economy.
“According to the agreement we signed together with Huawei, we are expanding our cooperation in terms of joint R&D works, trading in Yuan, standardisation, innovative solutions, software development and domestic production. In addition to that, we will develop new solutions in the area of smart cities which will make life easier for our expanding cities.”
Huawei Senior Vice President Tian Feng said Turkey was an important strategic hub for Huawei as its location sits between Europe and Asia.
Last month, Turkcell held a spectrum sharing demonstration with Huawei, which involved showing how GSM and UMTS could be combined to improve spectral efficiency by 20 percent.
The Turkish operator is also working with ZTE on fixed and wireless solutions as well as 5G research.