Antenna firm Sarantel said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with contract manufacturer Sanmina-SCI.

The contract manufacturer will take over manufacture of the firm’s antennas at its Singapore-based facilities at the beginning of next year.

Sanmina will also provide procurement and logistics services for Sarantel. The firm said the deal would include the later acquisition of some of Sarantel’s manufacturing assets but not any of the firms buildings or employees.

Sarantel said the move would not have an impact on staff and that it had been reducing its headcount already in October and September. The firm said the deal would help reduce costs and take manufacturing closer to Asian customers.

David Wither, CEO of Sarantel, said: “We are very excited by this partnership with Sanmina-SCI and are confident that they will provide Sarantel with the credibility we need to further our relationships with major OEM customers. This move also enables Sarantel to focus our future investments on our core competencies of engineering, process development, product development, and sales and marketing.”

“Over time we expect high volume, cost sensitive products to transfer to Asia while our UK plant focus shifts to new process development, new product introduction and niche market antenna production,” he added.