NEC Corp. of Tokyo has launched its new GSM phone in Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, with plans to expand sales and sell a million units during the first year.
This is the Japanese equipment manufacturer’s first product based on Global System for Mobile communications technology. NEC also will market its GSM phone in Germany, France and Scandinavia, competing in a market dominated by European manufacturers L.M. Ericsson and Nokia Corp.
NEC said it intends to only manufacture GSM handsets, not infrastructure equipment. The phones will be built at NEC Technologies (UK) Ltd. in Telford, United Kingdom. That factory now puts out about 50,000 analog units per month, NEC reported. With the addition of the GSM phones, production will increase to 100,000 units per month, the company said.
NEC’s GSM phone is the G8 series. It features up to 120 minutes of talk time and 24 hours of standby with a standard battery. It is designed for both business and personal use. It has a four-line display screen that can accommodate 48 characters in 12 languages.
NEC also will market its GSM phone in Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Australia and the Middle East later this year.
GSM is an attractive market because of its high growth in recent years, NEC said. GSM technology is being deployed by wireless operators worldwide, and now covers an estimated 13 million subscribers. NEC said it hopes to gain 10 percent of the GSM handset market. GSM accounts for a fourth of the total portable phones in use, the company said.
NEC also builds handsets for analog and Personal Handyphone System technology. The company expects to manufacture six million portable phones during fiscal year 1996.
NEC also is involved in the manufacture of an Interim Standard-136 chipset, which uses Time Division Multiple Access technology, through an alliance with Cupertino, Calif.-based DSP Communications Inc.
In addition, NEC is building handsets for Code Division Multiple Access technology; subscriber equipment may be commercially available late this year or early 1997, with infrastructure equipment scheduled for commercial availability late this year.
NEC recently received orders to build point-to-point digital microwave systems in Hungary and Belgium for GSM systems. NEC’s Pasolink operates at 15 GHz to 50 GHz and allows the transmission of voice, data, messages and other applications. The company said it won the contract from Pannon GSM in Hungary because it could meet the operator’s need for 1000 Pasolink systems over the next two years. NEC’s three-year contract with Belgacom calls for 2,500 sets of 38 GHz Pasolink systems.
