NEC announces agreement to supply 5G base stations to NTT DOCOMO

NEC announced an agreement to supply 5G base station equipment to NTT DOCOMO. Financial terms were not disclosed. Docomo aims to launch 5G in 2020.

Under this new agreement, NEC will achieve 5G compatibility through software upgrades and a minimal replacement of hardware to maximize the use of existing high-density base station equipment.  NEC said it will provide updates that enable existing high-density base stations to be fully compatible with 5G while continuing to deliver LTE/LTE-Advanced services.

This includes base station equipment that NEC has been supply to DOCOMO since February 2015. This equipment is already compatible with the advanced Centralized Radio Access Network (C-RAN) architecture advocated by
DOCOMO, and is now being utilized as a base station control unit.

"DOCOMO aims to deploy and expand our commercial 5G services efficiently by maximizing the use of existing communications equipment," said, Hiroshi Nakamura, Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer and Member of the Board of Directors, NTT DOCOMO. " This agreement with NEC is in line with that policy and we expect it to make a significant contribution to our 5G services. Going forward, DOCOMO accelerates co-creation of new services and businesses with vertical industry partners."