Nokia Increases Investment for Guadalajara Facility

After a year of growth, Nokia announced additional investment for its Guadalajara 5G testing facility to support product testing, sales growth and supply chain operations in the region. The investment also aims to secure Nokia’s presence in the Mexican market and fan out further in Latin America.

“Guadalajara lab is located at a unique geographical position to provide services to both Latin America and North America,” said Raul Romero, Director of Mexico and Latin America, Nokia.

The facility, in operation since 2017, has continually drawn in more investment over the years in parallel to growing operations. Working in conjunction with US facilities in Texas and Illinois, this collective conducts a range of Nokia hardware tests along 3G, 4G and 5G frequencies in addition to assessing product change notification, mechanical and power supply analysis, among other tasks.

Although this facility provides services to Latin America and North America alike, it alone will lead the deployment of 5G in Mexico and Latin America. The company anticipates it will benefit from the USMCA free trade agreement with the US and Canada. "Our next 5G deployments in Mexico and Latin America will be supported by our regional operations and by the T-MEC free trade agreement," said Romero.

The digital transformation and anticipation for the deployment of a 5G network in Mexico and Latin America have given Nokia a trading boost. Company shares have grown almost 40 percent, well above the industry average of 23.6 percent, according to investment research. Moreover, the company is well positioned to benefit from these emerging markets as digital infrastructure improves and internet penetration rates continues to inch upward throughout the region. 

The decision comes to fortify the company’s presence in Mexico and the wider Latin American continent, a move that many technology companies have mimicked in recent years. In Mexico this is expected to generate more employment, adding to an almost 4,000-strong workforce spread out over 14 countries.