Leading position reinforced for 3rd generation mobile networks

"The top position in the 3G market is the best evidence of the success of our partner-ship with NEC. The joint team is doing an excellent work", said Christoph Caselitz, President of Mobile Networks at Siemens Communications. "90 percent of all 3G mobile customers worldwide are already using W-CDMA-based technology from Siemens and NEC."

The partnership between Siemens and NEC began over five years ago. In November 1999, both companies founded a joint venture to jointly develop and produce infrastruc-ture technology for third generation mobile communication. Siemens and NEC have collaboratively and successfully established global supply chain management and struc-ture. The companies started supplying their first 3G Node Bs outside Japan in Decem-ber 2001 and supplied the first commercial service of Hutchison 3G group in the UK and Italy.

Both companies have also greatly contributed to Node B standardization activity in the "Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI)", and introduced the world's first CPRI-compliant Node B "NB-88x" series in November 2004.

"By combining our experience and expertise in the field of 3G five years ago, we were able to develop, produce and market the new technology much more efficiently right from the start, including a HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) end-to-end solution, one of the first to be available on the market. This gives us clear advantages as far as market entry and maturity are concerned", said Takakuni Kuki, Executive General Manager of Mobile Network Operations Unit at NEC.

Against this background, Siemens and NEC are now embarking on the next major steps: the extension of their 3G/WCDMA/HSDPA solution towards HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access). Furthermore, the partners are joining forces to push the long-term evolution of 3G in the respective international bodies.