Huawei Technologies Co., China's No. 2 manufacturer of telecommunications equipment, is gearing up for Japanese marketing of its base transceiver stations for the next-generation wireless technology known as LTE (Long Term Evolution).

LTE is also known as 3.9G to emphasize that it is an evolved version of 3G and not a fourth-generation wireless technology. NTT DoCoMo Inc. (TSE:9437) and other Japanese telecom firms plan to offer LTE services under the Super 3G moniker starting in 2010.

Huawei is now testing its LTE base stations with leading Western telecom firms and expects to have a commercial product ready in 2009. The power amplifier used in its product boasts a high input-output efficiency of 40 per cent, around 10 per cent better than the industry average. The hardware is geared for LTE -- but through replacement of the software, the same base stations can be used for One-Seg and the current 3G wireless protocol.

Because Huawei's R&D expenses in China are just 25 per cent those in Japan, the company is expected to price its LTE base stations very competitively at just a quarter those of the Japanese-made LTE base stations.

Huawei will market its LTE base stations to Japanese telecom firms through a local subsidiary starting this fall. The subsidiary now has a staff of roughly 100, but Huawei plans to triple the size over the next five years with an emphasis on salespeople. 

Source:AsiaPulse