Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

[khemara_qc]

Kyocera expects to repeat annual revenue growth - Regional

Published : Thursday, October 21, 2004 12:35 (GMT-0400)
California-based CDMA handset manufacturer Kyocera Wireless (KWC) expects Latin American revenue growth for the fiscal year ending March 2005 to at least match the 131% increase seen in the year ending March 2004, South America manager Julio Gaitán told BNamericas.

One important area of growth will be Colombia, where Kyocera expects a 50% rise in revenues this fiscal year, he said. Mobile penetration is set to grow to 22% by year-end compared to 17% in June, the country's communications minister Martha Pinto told reporters, citing figures supplied by mobile operators' association Asocel.


However, there are other factors which should lead to the more than doubling of revenues in the region, Gaitán said, without elaborating. One new area the company is exploring is telemetry, or machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions based on CDMA networks.


Kyocera has a 17% share of the CDMA handset market in Colombia compared to 20% in the rest of Latin America excluding Brazil, KWC Latin America PR representative Alison Klapper said. The company expects Latin American sales to represent 20% of its global revenues.


KWC, a subsidiary of Japan's Kyocera Corp, recently expanded its advertising budget to include TV commercials across Latin America for the first time, Klapper said, without providing spending figures. The campaign stresses the simplicity of the handsets. Despite this initiative, KWC feels well supported by its 31 carrier partners, she added.


The company sells 17 models in the region, with the greatest variety of being available in countries like Bermuda, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Argentina.


An important number of the region's CDMA networks belong to the 10 Latin American BellSouth divisions that are being acquired by Telefónica Móviles (NYSE: TEM). Despite the possibility that TEM might choose to migrate some of these operations to GSM, Kyocera believes the takeover is beneficial since BellSouth views TEM as a very aggressive group, Klapper said.


By Phil Anderson

BNamericas.com

http://www.bnamericas.com/story.xsql?id_noticia=298173&Tx_idioma=I&id_sector=2