ASIA : NEC Corporation announced that it has established "NEC Telecommunications (Hong Kong) Limited" on "December 22nd, 2004". The new company will commence its operation on January 10th, 2005 as a mobile network operation outsourcing company.

NEC has agreed with Hutchison Telecommunications (Hong Kong) Limited (Hutchison Telecom HK) recently to provide outsourcing services including network operation, maintenance, and development of network maintenance tools for the 2nd generation (2G) and the 3rd generation (3G) mobile network operations of Hutchison's wireless operation in Hong Kong. For this purpose, the newly established company has employed certain personnel from the wireless network operation division of Hutchison Telecom HK. NEC will further expand the business of the new company to 3G projects in China in the future. The company was established with an immediate initial capital funding of HK$ 5 million and approximately 300 employees and will be a wholly-owned company of NEC Telecommunications (China) Co., Ltd. following the procedures required by the Chinese government.

"With an increasingly competitive mobile market in recent years, mobile operators are focusing on developing innovative mobile services for new revenue streams, along with increasing their use of outsourced network operation from telecom vendors for cost competitiveness and quality. The new company marks NEC's entry into a new business area, accumulating capability in network system outsourcing with the combination of NEC's competences as a mobile network vendor and highly skilled outsourcing staff from Hutchison. With this new company, NEC will be ready for 3G's take-off in China and the global market, enabling us to support global operators with our total solution capabilities," said Katsuhiro Nakagawa, Associate Senior Vice President and Executive General Manager, Mobile Solutions Operations Unit of NEC.
In addition, in response to the growth of 3G subscribers and communications demand in Hong Kong, NEC has recently been awarded a network expansion project for Hutchison Telecom HK's 3G network. Under this new expansion, NEC will remain the sole supplier of the 3G UTRAN network equipment for Hutchison Telecom HK.