Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

[khemara_qc]

3G Handsets To Account For 55 PCT Of's Korean Mobile Phone Sales

http://au.news.yahoo.com/041118/3/rs6b.html

SEOUL, Nov 18 Asia Pulse - Third-generation (3G) handset sales will account for 55 per cent of total mobile phone sales in South Korea this year and are expected to rise to 91 per cent by 2009, according to a recent report by a London-based market researcher.

Sales of 3G mobile phones, which offer high-speed Internet access via handsets, are forecast to expand 117 per cent throughout this year in South Korea, Arc Group said.

South Korea's two mobile phone operators -- SK Telecom Co. (KSE:017670) and KTF Co. -- are pushing ahead with sales of faster mobile phones based on U.S.-based Qualcomm Inc.'s CDMA2000 1X EV-DO (evolution data optimized) technology.

The EV-DO technology won the right to call itself 3G from the International Telecommunication Union, a body representing carriers on five continents,

3G networks allow telephone carriers to offer high-speed, always-on service for cell phones capable of surfing the Web.

Excluding South Korea and Japan, however, global 3G handset sales are forecast to show slower-than-expected growth until next year, the report said.

3G handset sales will probably account for only 4 per cent of total worldwide mobile handset sales in 2004, but Arc Group forecast it to rise to about one-third by 2009.

"Operators need to change their marketing strategy, away from a technology bias, focusing on the services that 3G can offer and demonstrating the ease of use to consumers," said David McQueen, a senior consultant at Arc Group.

The researcher also predicted the global mobile phone market to expand 16 per cent this year to 561 million units, compared to 482.5 million units in 2003.

However, the growth rate will gradually slow down over the next five years as the market saturates, with expected growth figures of 10 per cent in 2005, 7.7 per cent in 2006, 6.4 per cent in 2007, 4.8 per cent in 2008 and 2.6 per cent in 2009.

Despite this decline in growth, annual handset sales are forecast to reach 767 million by 2009, it added.

(Yonhap)