TOKYO -- Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. (TSE: 6703) and Fujikura Ltd. (TSE: 5803) today announced the enhancement of their business partnership in the optical communications business, aiming to integrate each company's strengths for the broadband network market. Oki and Fujikura will jointly establish a new company, OF Networks Co., Ltd., in Japan on April 1, which will provide next-generation broadband access systems to telecom carriers. Furthermore, SIGMA-LINKS, Inc., a company jointly established in 2001 for the development, manufacturing, and sales of small-form-factor optical transceivers, will enhance its business by taking over Oki's optical interface module business on April 1, 2003. The capital of SIGMA-LINKS is also planned to increase by the end of April, in which Fujikura will own the majority. "The extended partnership between Oki and Fujikura demonstrates that the two companies have maintained a successful relationship. This was made possible by the continuing joint efforts of the two companies. We believe the combined strengths of our companies will greatly contribute to the expansion of the growing broadband optical market," said Katsumasa Shinozuka, President and CEO of Oki Electric. The new joint company, OF Networks, will develop, manufacture and market broadband access equipment, including a gigabit passive optical network (PON), gigabit Media Converter, VDSL equipment, and access routers. The company will mainly focus on the development of optical products for the next-generation broadband market, and will utilize the external EMS and manufacturing companies of Oki and Fujikura. Its products will be provided to the Japanese and worldwide markets through the marketing, sales, and SE capabilities of Oki Electric and Fujikura. Both companies will also send optical access engineers to OF Networks. The new company will be 51% owned by Oki and 49% owned by Fujikura, and will be capitalized at 300 million yen. Oki will transfer its optical interface module business, including 10-Gbit/s optical transponders, optical transmitters and receivers for SDH (synchronous digital hierarchy) and WDM (wavelength division multiplexer), and optical access PON modules, to SIGMA-LINKS, a joint venture established in 2001 by Oki and Fujikura. SIGMA-LINKS has been providing small-form-factor optical transceivers featuring speeds of more than 1-Gbit/s to the telecommunications and data communications markets. Through this business transfer, SIGMA-LINKS will be able to broaden its product line-up to form a comprehensive optical access business. Both Oki and Fujikura will dispatch engineers to SIGMA-LINKS for design and development of the optical interface module, and Fujikura will provide manufacturing and marketing capabilities for a certain period of time. By broadening and integrating various optical technologies from Oki and Fujikura, SIGMA-LINKS intends to serve as a comprehensive provider of optical components to telecom carriers worldwide. Oki and Fujikura have also agreed to increase the capital of SIGMA-LINKS by the end of April 2003. With this capital increase, the company, which is equally possessed by two companies, will change to 51% by Fujikura and 49% by Oki. Oki Electric Industry Co. Ltd. Fujikura Ltd. Sigma-Links Inc.