NEC Strengthens PASOLINK’s Ultra-Compact Microwave Communication Business in Eastern Europe

NEC Acquires a Leading Regional Engineering Company

Tokyo, July 7, 2008 – One of NEC Corporation’s European subsidiaries, NEC Europe, has announced the acquisition of Linecom Kft., a leading Hungarian engineering company that has assisted NEC for more than 15 years, as part of reinforcing PASOLINK services and wireless business in Eastern Europe.

NEC’s Eastern European PASOLINK business is continuing to expand year on year and now constitutes approximately 50% of PASOLINK’s total European sales.

This acquisition represents NEC’s first specialized PASOLINK engineering group in the Eastern European market; where product customization, engineering, maintenance and support were formerly outsourced to Linecom.
　
Following the acquisition, NEC will be able to seamlessly meet a wide range of customer needs through total solutions that include hardware services, product customization, engineering, maintenance and support.

In addition to strengthening NEC’s PASOLINK business in Eastern Europe, this acquisition will capitalize on Linecom’s resources and know-how to enable NEC to efficiently develop strategic business in Western Europe and potentially drive new product expansion.

Since the launch of PASOLINK in the early 1980s, NEC has actively promoted the system’s research, development and sales. Accompanying the rapid growth of worldwide mobile markets, PASOLINK has enjoyed increasing sales as a communication system that links the base stations of mobile communications carriers. The system’s unmatched performance is supported by 700,000 PASOLINK units that NEC has shipped to more than 700 customers in 131 countries.

In 2007, NEC’s PASOLINK system held top share in its class (30% annually) according to studies carried out by Sky Light Research.

PASOLINK microwave communication systems enable rapid installation of telecommunication infrastructure, which is essential in order to meet the accelerating global demands from new mobile subscribers and mobile internet services.

In order to promote new growth and business operations worldwide, NEC plans to establish local engineering companies, in addition to Linecom, that are expected to drive the company’s advantageous position in the mobile and wireless communication systems market.