Nokia-YADRO joint venture to build 4G, 5G base stations in Russia
26 Nov 2021
Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia and Russia's YADRO, a maker of data storage systems and servers, have teamed up to build 4G and 5G telecom base stations in Russia, the two equipment makers said on Wednesday.
Nokia said the two companies signed a term sheet on 23 November, specifying their intent to enter into good faith negotiations with the aim of creating a joint venture in Russia.
Neither Nokia, nor YADRO disclose the terms of the planned investment. An earlier report in The Kommersant daily had cited a source as saying that YADRO will hold 51 per cent stake in the joint venture while Nokia will hold the remaining 49 per cent.
The announcement comes as a deadline for building networks using only Russian equipment approaches.
Russia has said it will extend telecoms operators' licences beyond 2023 for LTE (long-term evolution) networks on the condition that they start building networks using only Russian equipment, part of a wider push by Moscow to promote domestic technology and IT services.
"We are pleased to be partnering with YADRO, a leading Russian developer and producer of high-performance servers and storage systems to address the new localisation regulatory framework," reports cited Nokia as saying.
Russia's Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said the agreement between the companies would see the development of telecom equipment in Russia, with construction scheduled to begin in December.
Russian manufacturers currently account for 21 per cent of the 168 billion roubles ($2.26 billion) of state telecom equipment procurement contracts, Manturov said.
"The entire market is estimated at more than 400 billion roubles, so we see quite serious potential for the development of Russian and localised joint projects," he added.
According to Kommersant, other foreign vendors, including Huawei, Ericsson and ZTE have also showed interest in setting up production base in Russia.