Nokia: full-scale commercialization of 3G WCDMA in 2004
January 22, 2004
Nokia 4th quarter report
2003 was a record year for the mobile handset industry and for
Nokia Mobile Phones. With volume growth of 16%, the mobile phone
market achieved record volumes of 471 million units for the year,
and culminated in high fourth quarter volumes of 145 million units,
according to our preliminary estimates.
Chairman and Ceo Jorma Ollila said, " We saw an increase in
the average selling price of mobile phones compared with the third
quarter as consumers upgraded to more advanced devices. Half of
Nokia's handset volumes for the fourth quarter had color screens.
Nokia also has the broadest camera phone portfolio with 12 models
announced by the end of 2003."
Nokia Networks positive Q4 pro forma result comes from stronger-than-expected
year-end operator investments combined with a favorable product
mix and the success of the decisive restructuring measures Nokia
took in early 2003. It also reflects the improved profitability
of 3G WCDMA as Nokia have successfully addressed temporary quality
issues experienced in the first part of 2003.
In 2004, Nokia expects market growth to continue and expect total
mobile phone market volumes to grow somewhat over 10% and the infrastructure
market to be flat to slightly up.
In 2003, the company estimates the number of global mobile subscribers
has grown to 1.3 billion and forecasts this number to reach two
billion in 2008.
In 2004, the mobile multimedia market will be in its infancy. However,
Nokia expects to see demand continue to develop for mobile imaging,
games, media and music devices as consumers become more aware of
mobile multimedia services.
Nokia believes that 2004 will be the year of full-scale commercialization
of 3G WCDMA. By the end of 2004, Nokia expects that more than 50
WCDMA networks will have been launched and that a large number of
WCDMA handsets from different vendors will be available.
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3G Motorola A920
