Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

[khemara_qc]

Nortel remains in fifth place in wireless gear market: report
By Ottawa Business Journal Staff
Wed, May 19, 2004 8:00 AM EST


The global market for wireless, widely considered a key pillar of the telecom sector's recovery, contracted in 2003 and Swedish firm Ericsson maintained its leadership position, according to a report Tuesday.

The report, by market research group Gartner, said the global market for wireless communications networks declined by 12 percent last year to US$40 billion.

Ericsson maintained its big lead as the world's largest maker of wireless gear, though its market share slipped from 29 per cent in 2002 to 26 per cent.

Germany's Siemens picked up some of the slack thanks to demand for its 3G network technology, increasing its market share to 13 per cent from 12 per cent.

For the other three top five firms, little changed. Finland's Nokia remained in second place at just under a 15-per-cent share. Siemens remained third. U.S. firm Motorola held onto fourth place. Nortel Networks was close behind in fifth place with a market share of just over 10 per cent.

"Siemens has done well, particularly in (third generation) WCDMA systems (Wideband CDMA)," Gartner analyst Jason Chapman said in the report.

Siemens holds 23 per cent of that WCDMA market, a technology that allows wireless service providers to deliver a host of broadband services over their cell phone networks, such as video.

Chapman added that 2003 was a year of contraction without any of the top equipment vendors making any major moves in terms of market share.

For 2004, modest growth is expected as wireless service providers clean their books of debt and once again look to spend on new network equipment.

The big driver of growth is expected to be 3G technology to bring new voice, data, music and video services to wireless handsets.

Emerging markets such as China are also expected to fuel growth, with the number of mobile callers around the world expected to climb to two billion within the next four years, from the current 1.3 billion.

The Gartner report also indicated that other wireless equipment vendors such as Lucent Technologies of the U.S. and Alcatel of France have market shares well below 10 per cent.

http://www.ottawabusinessjournal.com/280543683431187.php