Fujitsu, Oki Elec tie up on new format cell phones
TOKYO, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Fujitsu Ltd and Oki Electric Industry Co Ltd said on Wednesday they have set up a joint venture to develop hardware and software for a global standard for next-generation cell phones, called IMT-2000.
The new company will aim at sales of two billion yen in the year starting in April.
Fujitsu Ltd is a major computer maker and Oki Electric is a major maker of telecom equipment. The new firm, Mobile Techno Corp, will be located in Kawasaki, near Tokyo, capitalised at 200 million yen, and owned 65 percent by Oki and 35 percent by Fujitsu.
IMT-2000 or International Mobile Telecommunications 2000, is the term used by the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) for the third-generation cellular phone system, expected to debut in 2001.
It includes the U.S. format cdma2000, the successor to cdmaOne (code division multiple access).
Another format, proposed by Europe and Japan, is W-CDMA.
The company will start by developing infrastructure for both formats, mainly base stations.
It will also develop hardware and software for cell phone systems and derivative systems such as corporate-use wireless communication system and wireless local loop (WLL) systems.
By 0056 GMT, Oki Electric's shares were up 30 yen or 5.0 percent at 630 yen 0954. Fujitsu's shares were up 70 yen or 1.8 percent at 3,960 yen |
