China Steams Ahead as Mobile Sales Rise 40%

February 5, 2007 - source: BWCS

The powerhouse of the mobile world, China, has reported increased handset sales of 40% during last year. In total, 120 million mobile phones were sold in the People's Republic, according to Xie Linzhen, deputy chief of the China Mobile Communications Association.

Linzhen reportedly told Chinese news agency Xinhua, that he predicts sales will increase another 25% this year to reach a total of 150 million units shipped. During last year, the country produced a total of 450 million phones, of which 350 million were sold abroad.

According to the Chinese Ministry of Information and Industry, which controls the mobile market, Nokia and Motorola dominate the Chinese market and indigenous mobile manufacturers only sold around 50 million handsets, both at home and abroad, last year. The Chinese market is by some way the largest in the world, with some 461 million mobile users, up by 68 million compared to 2005.

In November 2006, the Chinese government announced plans to launch six, 3G trial networks within a year. The move, which will see half a dozen major cities set up test systems, is designed to ease the launch of next generation mobile services in the country before the 2008 Olympics.

According to news sources within China, the cities where tests will be set up are: Tianjin, Shanghai, Qingdao, Qinghuangdao, Shenyang and Hong Kong. It seems that all six will involve trials of the home-grown 3G standard, the TD-SCDMA system. If the tests go well, it is understood that the Chinese-developed system will be used nationally. If not, it appears that the government will hedge its bets and only allow the TD-SCDMA system to be used in the major cities.