Production start in July 2022, ready for 5G take off 2023
Nokia has signed a partnership agreement with Turkish electronics manufacturer Karel, to make 4G and 5G base stations in Turkey. The partners will start producing 4G base stations for the local market by July 2022. If 5G meets expectations in Turkey it will be commercially viable in 2023, so local production is expected to include 5G base stations. “Turkey is an important market for Nokia, where we have strong business and long standing trusted customer relationships,” said Nokia’s Senior Country Officer in Turkey, Ozgur Erzincan, “with Karel, we can fulfil all the domestic product demand from our customers.”
Karel is top-rated
Karel is among the top 15 manufacturers globally, exporting products and technologies to more than 30 countries. It claims to have one of the most advanced comms research and development departments in Turkey and its modern facilities are compliant with international standards, it says. It is fully Turkish-owned and was established with totally domestic capital.
Rapid tech change
“We are going through a period of significant change, in which technology develops very rapidly and the transition to new generation communication systems is ongoing,” said Karel chairman Sinan Tunaoğlu. “We are moving forward with the vision and goal of becoming a global player in the field of technology with our R&D, qualified production power, knowledge and experience. Today, we are very excited about this cooperation that we started with Nokia, one of the world’s leading technology companies. We believe that this will create a long-term, growing and value-adding alliance.”