TOKYO—NEC, the leading handset manufacturer in Japan, is going to re-enter the U.S. mobile handset market by the end of March 2003.
NEC in 2000 sold its mobile handset factories in Europe and Mexico and terminated manufacturing handsets targeting overseas markets except its Chinese factory. Because some U.S. carriers have started constructing General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) networks, NEC has decided to try to provide its high-end mobile handsets to these U.S. carriers.
In Europe, NEC is already shipping GPRS handsets.
NEC and its handset business partner Matsushita Communication Industrial are promoting their plan to set up a facility in China, which will develop GPRS and wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA) handsets for the Chinese market. NEC and Matsushita last August concluded an agreement to jointly develop third-generation (3G) handsets.
