Nokia Vows to Expand China BusinessFinnish mobile phone maker Nokia pledged to expand its business in China to buoy its position as a global industrial leader, as it posted strong fourth quarter earnings in 2000."China is a very important market for Nokia and we hope to continue to outperform the market growth here this year," Urpo Karjalainen, who became president of the Nokia (China) Investment Co., Ltd early this month, was quoted as saying. The company's fourth quarter report showed that China remained Nokia's second largest market following the United States in 2000 with net sales of 3 billion euros or 10 percent of its total sales last year. China, given its huge demand and robust growth, is likely to become more important for mobile phone makers, with the US economy on the verge of slowdown and the European market likely to reach the saturation. Karjalainen believed the competition in China will become sharper as nearly all mobile phone giants are here and the challenge from local producers will also be noticeable, though they now hold a tiny stake of the handset cake. Nokia now enjoys 30 percent market share in China, followed by Motorola and Ericsson and became the largest foreign-funded Telecom company in terms of exports. It exported products worth of 1.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2000. By 2000, the company had invested 1.73 billion U.S. dollars in China. |
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