Tokyo and London, June 23, 2011 - NEC Corporation (NEC) announced today that it has won the Femto Forum Award 2011 “Social Vision - Promoting Femtocells for Social, Economic, Environmental Development”.

The Femto Forum awarded NEC for its submission “Outdoor small cells for rural and developing communities to bridge the digital divide.” NEC is developing rural femtocell solutions worldwide to bring rural community femtocells closer to reality.

“Going beyond simply plugging in-home coverage gaps in developed mobile markets, femtocells are already starting to be used to bring mobile services to whole villages in rural areas where it has traditionally been deemed uneconomical. Today this is happening in developed countries, but in the future the technology could also be coupled with satellite backhaul to bring mobile services to developing markets too. NEC is conducting pioneering work in this space and thereby helping to bridge the digital divide,” said Caroline Gabriel, the lead judge for the category and Research Director for Rethink Technology Research.

This is the third consecutive year that the Femto Forum has honored NEC with one of its prestigious Awards, which recognize outstanding achievement within, and contributions to, the femtocell industry.

“We are honored to win a coveted Femto Forum Award and continue to be at the forefront of the femtocell industry, developing innovative solutions that enable mobile operators to provide high-quality, premium mobile services for their customers,” said Anil Kohli, General Manager, NEC Europe Ltd.

NEC has 16 contracts worldwide and 30 trials with operators around the world and is a board member of the Femtocell Forum, an industry association that was established in July 2007. NEC’s activities and groundbreaking work in the femtocell field are well recognized with honors that include the Femtocell Forum’s 2009 award for “Progress in Commercial Deployment” and the 2010 award for “Femtocell Network Design and Technology Innovation.” Furthermore, NEC won Telecom Asia Magazine's “2010 Femtocell Vendor of the Year”, an award intended to recognize vendors and suppliers of innovative products that cultivate new markets in the Asia Pacific rim.