Nokia sees huge potential from China

Nokia sees huge potential from China

China is one of the biggest booming markets for the mobile. And Nokia being the largest maker of mobile phones in the world knows the value of expanding its operations in China. The company expects 200 million new subscribers to sign up for mobile phone services in the next couple of years. Other than that, the company also expects to see a huge growth in mobile use in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

However, competition from companies like LG, Samsung, and BenQ in these markets would limit revenue growth there over the next few years, its Networks division head Simon Beresford-Wylie said. Simon said: “(In) 2006 to 2008 in APAC we expect that the market will be flat to growing slightly. While there’s huge subscription growth, the price erosion will effectively offset that.”

The Chinese market already had more than 400 million users by the end of last year. Nokia is also hoping that three and possibly four 3G mobile licenses to be issued in the country sometime next year, which would help the growth of new generation phones where Nokia specializes. The company is also expanding its reach in the Indian market and has recently signed on a deal with Airtel (Bharti) to double their capacities.

Nokia is also planning to open a global mobile networks operation center in India by the end of the year and is building a manufacturing plant in the southern port city of Chennai.