China's ZTE to increase its investments in Turkey

By Bahattin Gonultas

ANKARA (AA) - China's largest-listed telecommunications equipment and network solutions provider ZTE agreed to invest more in Turkish telecoms company Netas on Thursday.

According to the new deal, the Chinese company will open three new centers in Turkey including a center of excellence for its GSM-R development, center of maintenance, repair, and support for the Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region and a training center called ZTE Netas Academy for the EMEA region.

"The investment in Turkey's Netas is ZTE's largest investment abroad at a single time," ZTE Corporation President Yin Yimin said.

"Our goal is to make Netas and Turkey our technology hub in the Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region," Yin added.

The chairman said that he believed the value of Netas would be over $1 billion with the support of Turkish and Chinese governments, customers and investors in the next five years.

Yin has not provided any financial details about the new investment.

On Dec. 5 of last year, ZTE agreed to take over 48.04 percent of Turkish systems integration provider Netas for $101.3 million as part of its goal of expanding its operations across key markets covered by Beijing’s "One Belt, One Road" initiative.

Netas, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, is a major manufacturer and supplier of telecommunications equipment and systems integration services to enterprises and telecommunications network operators in Turkey and the Middle East .

The Turkish Armed Forces Foundation holds 15 percent stake in the public listed company.