Telecom Lead Asia: Mobile major Nokia will begin selling
its new line of Lumia phones in China next month through one of the
country’s largest mobile operators.
Nokia plans to sell its full line of Lumia smartphones,
which includes the Lumia 710, 800 and 900, in China by the end of June. These
sales could take place through China Telecom or with other operators,”
said Stephen A. Elop, chief executive of Nokia.
The company aims to speed its recovery in the lucrative
market for smartphones. China Telecom, with 126 million customers, will begin
selling the Nokia Lumia 800C in April and Lumia 610 by June.
According to IHS, the Chinese smartphone market is
thriving, and Nokia has timed the introduction of the Lumia 800C to exploit the
anticipated surge in growth. Sales of smartphones in China are expected to rise
to 120 million this year from 65 million in 2011.
Sales of CDMA phones in China are expected to reach 60
million units this year from 30 million in 2011.
Last year, Nokia had 1 percent of China’s CDMA market.
However, the share is likely to grow, through the cooperation with China
Telecom.
The Lumia 800C and 610 will run on China Telecom’s
wireless network, which uses a local variant of the CDMA, international
technology standard. The Lumia 800C, which is expected to cost 3,599 renminbi
($571) without the operator’s subsidy.
Nokia has been a longtime employer and supplier of phones
in China. In 2011, China accounted for 17 percent of Nokia’s global sales. The
company, based in Espoo, Finland, sold 65.8 million cellphones, mostly not its
smartphones, last year in China, which generated sales of $6.7 billion. Nokia
employed 22,568 people in China in 2011.
Nokia is also planning to bring Lumia phones to U.S.
and Latin America this year.
In the U.S, AT&T will launch the Nokia Lumia 900, the Windows Phone, in the U.S. on April 8 for
$99.99.
The Nokia Lumia 900 gives AT&T customers more 4G
LTE choices than ever before and the largest selection of Windows Phones in the
U.S.
editor@telecomlead.com
