In continuation of the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) signed by French Alcatel-Lucent and Japanese NEC in January 2008, both parties announced at the 3GSM World Congress 2008 -which was held in Barcelona from February 11 to 14 -that they plan to establish a fifty-fifty joint venture in Britain. The JV is aimed for the development of wireless broadband solutions based on the LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology, also known as 3.9G, which has expanded capabilities close to that of 4G, Nikkei Electronic reported.

 

Pursuant to the agreement, the JV is slated to commence operations in the third quarter of 2008, with solutions ready for commercialization in 2009, according to the same report. Financial details of this agreement were not yet disclosed.

 

The solutions are designed to facilitate the integration of LTE technology with the networks of Alcatel-Lucent's and NEC's respective customers, which currently operate on the 3G networks of WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access)/HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access)/EV-DO (Evolution-Data Only).