Turkish mobile phone operator Turkcell and Chinese networking and telecommunications equipment and services company Huawei, are expanding their existing collaboration to include joint R&D and production in the fields of IoT, and smart cities applications. The two companies have been working together to develop 4.5G and 5G technologies since 2015.

Following the signing ceremony, Turkcell chairman of the board Ahmet Akça said, ’’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, standardization, 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 Mr. Tian Feng stated that “As Huawei, we consider Turkey as a strategic hub located between Europe and Asia, and have accordingly structured our administrative and operational infrastructure in the country to support our Central Asia and Caucasia region operations. Our confidence in the Turkish economy and trust in the talented, young and dynamic human resource of the nation has led the establishment of our second largest overseas R&D center in Turkey. We will increase our investment in Turkey, enable Huawei Turkey R&D center not only serve Turkey, but also make fully use of Turkey’s unique geographical advantages, covering other countries in Europe and Asia, and deeply involved in the development of Turkey ICT industry.”