Nokia to commence production of 5-G ready base stations near Chennai

Chennai: Handset manufacturer Nokia on Tuesday said it will begin manufacturing 5G-ready AirScale multi-band base station at its plant near here before the end of this year to meet growing demand for mobile broadband.

"Nokia will begin manufacturing its 5G-ready AirScale multiband base station at its state-of- the-art facility at Oragadam, near Chennai, to meet growing domestic and global demand for mobile broadband," the company said in a release.

The move will also support the Central government’s 'Make in India' initiative, it said.

AirScale, "world's first triple-band radio," offers huge capacity and connectivity to support future traffic growth, while reducing space requirements and the costs associated with it, the company said.

"Production of the Nokia AirScale multiband base station will begin at Chennai (Oragadam) before the end of 2017 and help support the Indian government's vision of promoting local manufacturing under its Make in India initiative," it added.

Monika Maurer, Chief Operating Officer at Nokia, was quoted as saying that over the past nine years, the company's manufacturing facility here has played a key role in helping service providers roll out new technologies faster.

Nokia AirScale multiband base station supports various advanced network features, allowing service providers to make performance increases in their 4G networks and prepare for the evolution to 5G, the company added.