Panasonic, UTStarcom form 3G equipment company

Panasonic, UTStarcom form 3G equipment company
BEIJING — Chinese equipment developer UTStarcom and Japan's Panasonic Mobile Communications said they have formed a joint venture company to focus on the design, development and manufacturing of 3G radio access equipment for the Chinese market.

The joint venture company, called Universal Communications Technology Hangzhou (UCTH), will initially develop systems based on the wideband CDMA air interface standard, the partners said Wednesday (Nov. 5). Eventually, the organization will also develop equipment for time-division, synchronous CDMA (TD-SCDMA) applications.

Panasonic will supply expertise in making 3G radio access products to the partnership. UTStarcom said it will provide expertise in 3G IP core technologies as well as its broadband and softswitch technologies.