NEC, Hitachi, Casio In Handset Ops Merger Talks

TOKYO (Dow Jones)--NEC Corp. (6701), Hitachi Ltd. (6501) and Casio Computer Co. (6952) are in talks to consolidate their mobile phone handset operations, a source close to the matter said Friday, which could see them creating the second largest handset maker in Japan.

The source wouldn't provide any further details.

Earlier in the day, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported the three companies had started discussions to merge their handset businesses by as early as April 2010.

The new entity would have a Japanese market share of over 20% for handsets, just below that of domestic industry leader Sharp Corp. (6753), the report said.