Nokia sees chance in underdeveloped areas By Li Weitao (China Daily) Updated: 2005-10-25 08:39
Nokia, the world's leading mobile phone supplier, sees China's vast
less-developed regions as a major driving force behind its future growth, a
company executive said.
David Ho, president of Nokia (China) Investment Co Ltd, said Nokia will "make
substantial efforts" to introduce low-price mobile phones to China to tap the
less-developed markets.
"Mobile phone subscriber growth in big cities is continuing to slow since
market penetration is already high," said Ho.
"However, third and fourth-tier cities are providing big opportunities for
mobile operators since they are signing on a growing number of new subscribers."
A top priority for Nokia now is to further strengthen the coverage of its
sales network in small cities, the president said.
China now has more than 370 million mobile phone subscribers and the growth
in this market has been strong.
However, now the market is growing mainly in small cities and rural regions.
Ho forecast Chinese mobile operators will recruit more than 200 million
subscribers in the coming three to four years.
"By 2008-09, we expect that the total number of Chinese mobile phone
users will hit 650 million," he said.
Most of the new users will be those from small cities and rural regions, who
will buy handsets for the first time.
The small cities, which have a potentially vast market for mobile phone
subscriber growth, are increasingly becoming a major battlefield for mobile
phone manufacturers.
A number of makers including Nokia and Motorola are ready to introduce the
so-called ultra low cost handsets (ULCH) to China, which could be sold for as
little as US$30.
Such phones offer only basic functions like call-making, messaging and black
and white screens.
Nokia will also aggressively introduce very high-end mobile phones to woo
corporate users, said Hera Siu, general manager of Nokia Capitel
Telecommunications Ltd, Nokia's joint venture in China.
The company plans to manufacture its flagship mobile phone models Nokia 9300
and 9500 which will enable users to access the Wi-Fi, or WLAN.
"We are working on the Chinese version of operating systems for Nokia 9300
and Nokia 9500 and plan to start manufacturing them next year," Siu said.
"We believe in the future most high-end phones especially the 3G mobile
phones will have the Wi-Fi function."
Since producing its first mobile phone in China in January 1996, Nokia has
manufactured a total of 200 million units in the country, half of which have
been exported.
The firm is now the country's largest mobile phone manufacturer and exporter.
"Starting from 2005, our exports already exceeded those sold at home," said
Siu.
(China Daily 10/25/2005 page11)
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