Samsung, Sprint Nextel In Wireless Broadband Equip Pact"
SEOUL -(Dow Jones)- Samsung Electronics Co. (005930.SE) said Friday it has signed an agreement with Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) of the U.S. to provide testing equipment for wireless broadband services.
Financial terms of the agreement weren't disclosed.
In a press release, the world's third-largest maker of mobile handsets behind Nokia Corp. (NOK) and Motorola Inc. (MOT) said it will provide Sprint Nextel with mobile handsets and networking systems to test wireless broadband services, dubbed WiBro, which allows broadband Internet access through mobile devices such as cellular phones and personal digital assistants.
The two companies also agreed to cooperate in developing technologies for WiBro, according to the release.
Sprint officials weren't immediately available for comment.
WiBro - a home grown technology closely related to the mobile WiMAX technology - is a wireless high-speed data communication service that is operational at speeds of up to 120 kilometers per hour. The WiBro market is expected to be worth $1.4 billion by 2007, according to industry estimates.
Samsung's president and chief executive of the telecommunications business, Ki Tae Lee, said in August that the company was in talks with six providers overseas to provide testing equipment, including Japan's KDDI Corp. (9433.TO) and the U.K.'s BT Group PLC (BT).
The South Korean government has already selected providers to commercially launch WiBro services throughout South Korea in the first half of 2006.
-By Yun-Hee Kim, Dow Jones Newswires; 822-732-2165; yun-hee.kim@dowjones.com
-Edited by David Bottomley
(END) Dow Jones Newswires"
Posted to the site on 16th September 2005
