Softbank Corp, Japan's third-biggest wireless carrier, said on Tuesday it and Casio Computer Co have reached a deal on developing and supplying mobile phones.

Softbank said the two companies will hold a briefing on the deal at 3 p.m. (0600 GMT).

Casio supplies CDMA-based mobile phones to Japan's KDDI Corp, Verizon Wireless in the United States and South Korea's LG Telecom. It said in November that it planned to launch W-CDMA phones in Japan sometime in the six months to March 2009, reaching out for a wider range of clients.

KDDI operates CDMA-based networks, while Softbank and NTT DoCoMo Inc, Japan's No.1 wireless carrier, offer mobile phone services based on W-CDMA technology.

Shares in Softbank were down 1.1 percent at 1,858 yen while Casio fell 2.7 percent to 1,241 yen. The benchmark Nikkei average .N225 was down 2.4 percent.

Source:Reuters