Wavecom soars on NEC deal

French wireless company Wavecom S.A. (Nasdaq: WVCM) rose 33 percent Thursday after it announced it has signed a contract with electronics giant, NEC Corp. of Japan, to develop a new mobile phone.

Shares of the developer of digital Wireless Standard Modules (WISMO) were up 40 to 162. Wavecom is also publicly traded on the Nouveau Marche exchange in Paris.

Wavecom makes a range of fully integrated plug-in modules for GSM communications. Divided into three product lines -- WISMO modules, external modems and integrated modems -- all Wavecom products are based on its unique WISMO technology. The mobile phone will also be based on GSM, a standard digital cellular phone technology.

Shares in NEC Corporation (Nasdaq: NIPNY) were up 3 1/2 to 110.

Another player in the GSM communications market, InterWAVE (Nasdaq: IWAV), recently completed a hot initial public offering.

Wavecom's contract with NEC calls for an initial order of 600,000 units to be delivered within the first 12 months of production, beginning in the second half of 2000.

The new GSM handset's design will be based on the latest NEC mobile phone.