Kyocera Defined (from PR)
Kyocera Corporation is the leading shareholder in DDI Corporation, one of two CDMA carriers in Japan, which was established by Dr. Kazuo Inamori, Kyocera's founder and chairman emeritus, in 1984. On December 16, 1999, DDI announced an agreement to acquire two of Japan's other leading telecommunications providers, KDD and IDO, to form a unified CDMA carrier under the DDI name next year. The new DDI, which will be Japan's second- largest telecommunications carrier, will be a global leader in wireless data and third-generation systems. DDI and IDO are among the first CDMA carriers worldwide to introduce CDMA services supporting 64 kbps data rates. Using QUALCOMM chipsets, Kyocera is able to expand its product offering to include these advanced features.
Since its founding in 1959 as a manufacturer of technical ceramics, Kyocera Corporation (www.kyocera.com) has developed a vertically integrated product line that includes high-performance materials, components, equipment and services. The company's consolidated annual sales for the year ended March 31, 1999, totaled 725 billion yen (US$6.1 billion) with net income of 28 billion yen (US$239 million). Kyocera employs approximately 38,000 people worldwide and has been named by Industry Week magazine as one of "The World's 100 Best-Managed Companies." |
