Nokia downgrades handset forecasts

NEWS Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, issued a growth warning this morning saying that handset sales would not rise by more than 10 per cent this year. Earlier forecasts had put growth at 15 per cent. The Finnish firm insisted that the decline in growth would hit other phone makers equally and as a result it would hold on to its 40 per cent share of the handset market. The news is not unexpected. Last week investment bank Merrill Lynch cut its global handset sales forecast for 2002 by six per cent to 385 million units, and cut its 2003 estimate by 11 per cent to 410 million units. Pressure in Europe from Samsung and Siemens, and from Samsung and Motorola in China will squeeze Nokia sales in its key markets, the bank said.