NEC sets out its vision for wireless Backhaul of Small Cells. New high performance solution is quick to deploy, unobtrusive and removes cost-of-ownership barriers to adoption of small cells

Tokyo & London, February 15, 2012 – NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701) outlined today its vision for the backhaul of small cells*1. Set for field trials during 2012, NEC’s solution consists of a range of technology components that address connectivity and service management challenges faced by network operators who plan to employ this new breed of mobile broadband networks using compact outdoor base stations.

NEC has identified 60GHz radio as the key technology behind its Backhaul for Small Cells proposition. Bandwidth availability at 60GHz and the uniquely high channel re-use characteristics of this spectrum are ideally suited to deliver high capacity and low latency connections to hundreds of cell sites, which will be rapidly deployed in concentrated coverage areas of busy city squares and avenues.

NEC’s Backhaul for Small Cells delivers significant reductions in the cost of ownership compared to existing macro-cellular backhaul networks. The choice of the zero-cost 60GHz spectrum allows the design of compact products, which can be easily installed and aesthetically concealed within a wide variety of urban environments. Furthermore, NEC has developed features for intelligent provisioning of backhaul resources and protection against performance degradations, resulting in improved capacity efficiency and elimination of costly manual maintenance and troubleshooting.

Customers can gain additional benefits by deploying NEC’s compact all-in-one small cell base stations together with NEC’s Backhaul for Small Cells. This combination of solutions offers enhanced mechanical, power supply and QoS (quality of service) integration resulting in maximised overall network performance and reduced operational complexity.

“NEC was one of the first companies to set the vision for small cell networks and today we follow this up by taking a pioneering role in small cell backhaul,” said Dejan Bojic, senior product manager, Backhaul, NEC Corporation. “We complement the 60GHz wireless technology with intelligent network resource management to deliver the backhaul solution with performance and costs tailored to small cell deployment requirements. Our customers’ response has been enthusiastic and we are looking forward to field trials.

NEC will conduct in-depth briefings on backhaul for small cells at Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona, Spain, from 27th of February to 1st of March, stand 8A125. Details of further product developments and trials are expected to follow throughout the year.

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Notes to editors

*1: Small Cells are defined as network operator deployed and managed outdoor base stations with a lower transmission power and addressable area than macro cells, based on any type of available radio access network (RAN) technology. NEC has been taking the pioneering and unique position by advocating small cell solution. See NEC's recent press release http://www.nec.co.jp/press/en/1202/0701.html.

For more information contact:

Harry Pirrwitz

NEC Europe Ltd.

t:+44 (0)20 8752 2794

m:+44 (0)78 7280 5922

e:harry.pirrwitz@EMEA.NEC.COM

Shinya Hashizume

NEC Europe Ltd.

t:+44 (0)20 8752 2796

e:shinya.hashizume@emea.nec.com