Finland-based Nokia Oyj said its worldwide profit rose 15 percent in the first quarter of this year, while other telecom-munications giants, including Lucent Technology, Ericsson AB and Nortel Networks, reported losses.
Nokia attributed its profit growth to strong demand in China's mobile phone market.
Analysts, however, warned that a gap between Nokia's share in the Chinese market and those of newcomers, such as Germany-based Siemens and South Korea's Samsung, is narrowing.
"After growing by 100 percent for several years, the number of Chinese mobile phone users has reached 100 million," Urpo Karjalainen, president and chief executive officer of Nokia (China) Investment Co. Ltd., said in Shanghai over the weekend. "We believe China will catch up with the United States, the world's largest handset market, as early as next year."
Analysts estimated that Nokia at present holds one-third of the Chinese cellphone market. The company currently occupies 32 percent of the global market.
Karjalainen said China has become Nokia's second largest market, next to the United States. Last year, revenues from its Chinese operations hit US$2.8 billion, compared with global sales of US$30.1 billion.
"But Nokia shouldn't ignore small brands like Siemens and Samsung," said Hu Yiping, a senior official with Everbright Telecom Land Shanghai Co. Ltd., a major mobile phone retailer. Last year, Siemens replaced Ericsson as China's No. 3 mobile phone supplier, following Nokia and Motorola.
(eastday 05/21/2001)
