Casio Launching W-CDMA Phones In Japan

Casio is already a supplier of CDMA phones in Japan, and now they’ve announced their intention to launch a range of W-CDMA phones as well.

Casio now makes CDMA-based phones and supplies them to Japan’s KDDI Corp, Verizon Wireless in the United States and South Korea’s LG Telecom Ltd, but it said earlier this year it would launch competing W-CDMA handsets.

KDDI, Japan’s No.2 wireless operator, has CDMA-based networks, while NTT DoCoMo Inc and Softbank Corp, the largest and third-largest, offer cell phone services based on W-CDMA technology.

Casio also said on Friday its operating profit came to 13.74 billion yen ($119.6 million) in April-September, down 40.8 percent from a year earlier, as sluggish cell phone sales more than offset brisk digital camera demand.

Casio expects the new phones to help the company’s cell phone division return to profitability in the near term.