TOKYO (02/10/2000) - NEC Corp. and Telecom Italia Group have reached an agreement to work together on trials of third generation (3G) mobile telecommunications technology.
The Japanese company will supply both network infrastructure and handsets for the trials which are scheduled to begin in March this year, NEC said in a statement. A further round of trials, which will center on testing of the W-CDMA (wideband code division multiple access) air interface will also take place with the additional participation of Germany's Siemens AG.
NEC and Siemens last year formed a strategic alliance to work together on third generation mobile systems and recently formed a joint development company, Mobisphere Ltd. [See "NEC, Siemens to Form 3G Phone Venture," Mar. 21, 1999, and "Siemens & NEC Give Details of 3G Joint Venture," Nov. 15, 1999].
Third generation mobile systems, which offer much faster data transmission speeds than current second generation systems such as GSM (global system for mobile communications) and CDMA, are expected to first enter service in early 2001 when Japan's NTT Mobile Communications Network Inc. launches a commercial W-CDMA service. A number of trials are currently ongoing and being planned as cellular network operators around the world begin considering the launch of such services.
NEC Corp., in Tokyo, can be found online at http://www.nec.co.jp/.