Daisuke Wakabayashi
TOKYO: Matsushita Communication Industrial Co Ltd. and NEC Corp said on
Tuesday that they will tie up on third-generation (3G) mobile phone technology
and supply products under each other's brand names.
Japan's top two mobile phone makers and Matsushita Communication's parent,
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd, put rivalry aside at a joint news
conference and said the alliance was "aimed at strengthening global
business expansion of their technologies and products."
As global demand for mobile handsets chills, cross-border alliances have
begun to appear, such as one between Sony Corp and Sweden's Telefonaktiebolaget
LM Ericsson announced in April.
Despite news reports that the two electronics giants would develop video
technology for 3G services, whose transmission speeds enable fast access to the
Internet, videos and music on mobile phones, the announcement gave little detail
about specific areas of cooperation.
The agreement, which also includes plans for the joint development of new
mobile phones for the multimedia market, comes as Japan's top mobile operator
NTT DoCoMo Inc prepares to launch on October 1 full commercial 3G services.
Matsushita Communication, which had a 26 per cent share of Japan's handset
market last year, and NEC, which has 23 per cent, also said they would supply
each other with mobile phones for sale under their own brands on an original
equipment manufacturing basis.
Matsushita Communication and NEC are the only companies with working 3G
cellphones in Japan as part of DoCoMo's introductory 3G service launched in May.
(C) Reuters Limited 2001.