NEC, Matsushita Comm to form 3G handset JV in China
By Mike Newlands, for Total Telecom
28 November 2001
Japan's two top handset manufacturers NEC Corp. and Matsushita Communication Industrial Co. will launch a Chinese-based joint venture before the end of the year to develop third-generation handsets tailored to the needs of Chinese users, according to a report in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.
A later report from Bloomberg citing the Nihon Keizai Shimbun story quoted an NEC official as saying details of the planned JV have yet to be decided, although she confirmed discussions were underway.
The report claims the joint venture, which will be initially capitalised at Y300 million and have a staff of 100 mainly Chinese engineers, will work together with Chinese telecommunications carriers to popularize 3G cell phones in China. They aim to commercially launch 3G handsets able to receive and transmit video by 2003. By then the workforce will be between 300 and 500, the report says.
Until now U.S. and European manufacturers have dominated the Chinese cellphone market, the world's largest, and despite some recent inroads by local makers still have a more than 70% market share. But by taking the lead in developing 3G handsets for Chinese users the Japanese firms aim to expand their market share and be the 3G standard bearers, the report said.
NEC and Matsushita have already developed handsets for NTT DoCoMo's FOMA 3G service, the world's first W-CDMA standard 3G operation. In China, as well as developing W-CDMA handsets for China Mobile they will be developing cdma2000 handsets for China Unicom as well as TD-SCDMA handsets for whichever operators are licensed for the locally developed 3G standard.
According to the report, the two Japanese firms are asking the Chinese service providers to take stakes in the joint venture company. |
