Kyocera, Korea's Hanaro in wireless tieup


Net usage is heavy in Korea, where Hanaro is the second largest Internet service provider

TOKYO, Japan -- Japan's Kyocera Corp said Tuesday it agreed to cooperate with South Korea's Hanaro Telecom to develop high-speed mobile communications services available via personal computers.

Kyocera is one of Japan's biggest cellphone and electronic components makers. Hanaro is South Korea's second-largest Internet service provider.

The Nihon Keizai business daily reported Tuesday that Hanaro would use Kyocera's new technology to launch Internet access services in Seoul and six other Korean cities next year.

It said the two companies would also cooperate in developing applications for fourth-generation mobile phones.

A Kyocera spokesman told Reuters news agency details of the planned wireless service would be announced in Seoul later on Tuesday.

High-speed transmissions

He said Kyocera would supply Hanaro with technology for mobile communications base stations allowing transmission speeds up to one megabit per second, far exceeding the 64 kilobits per second for services it supports in Japan.

It would also provide technology for PC cards that would enable personal computers to receive wireless data transmissions from base stations in places such as hotels, airports, offices and apartment buildings.

Kyocera technology is used in a data transmission service offered in Japan by KDDI Corp, the country's second-largest telecoms carrier. Kyocera is KDDI's largest shareholder.

In early trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Tuesday, Kyocera's shares were unchanged at 8150 yen. The benchmark Nikkei index was down slightly.

In Seoul, Hanaro's shares were up 120 won or 2.25 percent at 5440 won.

Reuters contributed to this report.