NEC Corp and Matsushita Communication Industrial Co are in talks to develop advanced mobile phone handsets in China, the biggest cellular phone market.
"China is a very important market, thus we and Matsushita are discussing ways to boost sales there," NEC spokeswoman Akiko Shikimori said in an interview
Japan's two biggest mobile phone makers plan to set up a Chinese venture this year to develop, make and sell cellular phones capable of accessing high-speed Internet services in China, the Nikkei English News News said, without citing sources.
The duo plans to sell the phones in China by 2003, the report said. NEC's Shikimori said the details of the plan haven't been set.
The venture would extend the duo's commitment to compete against giants such as Nokia Oyj and Motorola Inc in the biggest mobile phone market.
Both Japanese companies expect China, with 136 million cell phone subscribers as of October, will be a large market for services that include e-mail, photo and movie data transmission via mobile phones.
Chinese mobile-phone operators such as China Mobile Communications Corp will be invited to take a stake in the venture, the report said.
NEC wouldn't confirm the report. "Nothing concrete, as mentioned in the media report, has been decided," Shikimori said.
NEC and Matsushita agreed in August to jointly develop high-speed mobile phones.
China this year overtook the US as the biggest mobile-phone market. China's Ministry of Information Industry forecasts the market will grow by 20 percent annually to 260 million customers by 2005.
The high-speed technology is called wideband code division multiple access. Only Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc, a customer of the two phone manufacturers, is now using W-CDMA standard handsets.
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