Annual sales of hand-held telephones should grow by 10-15 per cent over the next few years, an executive with Finnish telecommunications equipment maker Nokia said today.
Mr Kari-Pekka Wilska, president of Nokia Americas, told an investment conference in the United States organised by Bank of America Securities that his projection was based on the current average replacement cycle of 2.5 years.
"Replacement cycle is the big feature for this [10-15 per cent growth] - if the cycle shortens, it will drive the growth further up," Mr Wilska said, adding that global handset penetration should reach 1.5 billion units in 2005.
He repeated Nokia's target of reaching more than 40 per cent of market share, noting that growing average selling prices were driving Nokia's growth at the moment.
"We belive with new technologies and new products our average selling prices will grow already in the second half of 2002 and all this will come from higher value devices," Mr Wilska said.
"All the new products and competition have kept average selling prices pretty much flat since 1999."
AFP