NEC Corp is seeking to hitch a ride to a bigger share of the enormous Chinese market on the back of Cable & Wireless Plc’s unrivalled connections in Hong Kong and the People’s Republic. The two companies have signed a corporate relationship agreement under which Cables will reveal information on future elecommunications projects to NEC, while NEC would provide insights into its technology. China plans to increase its telephone lines to 65m by the year 2000 from 27m now, and NEC, which has a telecommunications equipment plant in China, hopes that the relationship with Cable & Wireless will help it win more business for its exchanges, satellite earthstations and fibre-optic cable-laying skills. Cable & Wireless is trying to persuade China to adopt the Japanese Personal Handy Phone System, an advanced form of Telepoint that enables calls to be received as well as sent, but which is only appropriate for urban areas and can’t be used in a car. NEC is one of the key suppliers of the phones and low-power base stations; Hong Kong Telecommunications Ltd, where Cable & Wireless has 57.5%, is already conducting trials of the system in Hong Kong. Under their agreement, NEC and Cable & Wireless have already started exchanging information on satellite communications systems using microwave transmission, NEC said. Over the past 20 years NEC says that it has supplied the UK company with of satellite communications stations and telephone exchanges, microwave communications and mobile telephone systems worth $1,000m.
