NEC Expecting Surge in 3G Base Station Sales

The Japanese newspaper, Nihon Keizai Shimbun has reported that NEC expects to see a substantial rise in the sales of its WCDMA base stations following increased orders from Hutchison Whampoa in the UK and Hong Kong.

The paper said that sales of the equipment abroad are projected to triple or quadruple to more than 6,000 units in the current business year ending March 2004, which the company hopes will boost its 3G phone business.

NEC and Germany's Siemens are expected to cooperate in production and marketing to deliver over 1,000 base stations to Hutchison 3G Hong Kong, which recently delayed the launch of its 3G network, reportedly due to a lack of 3G handsets. However, there has been wide speculation that Nokia supplied base stations are being ripped up and replaced with the NEC models due to interoperability problems between the base stations and handsets.

Some 200 units will also be delivered to Hutchison 3G in the UK."

Posted to the site on 14th July 2003