China´s new players [mobile phone handset manufacture]

The Chinese mobile communications market is looking very attractive to multinationals faced with market saturation in regions like Western Europe, where penetration is expected to top 80% in the next few years. The Xinhua state news agency reports that mobile communications took 46% of the total telecoms revenue worth $26.5bn in the first half of 2003, when 28.5 million people signed up for mobile services-more than took up fixed lines. In terms of penetration, fixed-line still leads with coverage of 19.4 %, but at 18.3 % mobile phones are catching up fast. Demand for handsets is huge, but tough competition from local firms means that foreign manufacturers hoping to cash in on the boom can´t afford to be complacent. China´s Ministry of Information Industry reported that in the first half of 2003 the country´s 37 mobile phone manufacturers produced just over 82 million handsets. Nokia and Motorola still take the lion´s share, but 25 local firms grabbed a significant proportion of the market, with the biggest now among the country´s top handset vendors.