Japanese NEC and Chinese state-run company WRI (Wuhan Research Institute of Post and Telecommunications) announced on January 17, 2011 that the two companies will team up for the development, manufacturing, sales, and field support of LTE (Long Term Evolution) wireless access systems, according to a press release by NEC. As per the agreement, the development cooperation will include wireless base stations, operation and maintenance sub-systems, and self organizing network. It is reported that the jointly developed commercial LTE systems will be launched later this year in China and India. System development costs are estimated at approximately one billion yen (US$12.1 million; US$=82.6 yen).

NEC has provided its LTE solutions to NTT DoCoMo. NTT DoCoMo's LTE services have been commercially available in Japan since December 2010.