Handset maker Nokia and Japanese firm Sanyo Electric will form a mobile phone business joint venture, an Associated Press report said.
According to the report, Nokia and Sanyo planned to announce a final agreement on the partnership in CDMA mobile phone technology in the second quarter.
Under the agreement, the joint venture would have major operations in San Diego and the western Japanese cities of Osaka and Tottori, the report said.
The report added that, according to Japanese media reports, Sanyo would transfer its business that made cdma2000-based phones to the venture to help keep its own development costs down.
For Nokia, the deal would help boost its name recognition in the Japanese mobile phone market, the reports said.