Nokia 3G still on for 2002 debut

NEWS Nokia has stated its UK 3G debut is on track for the latter half of 2002. Shipment of its dual GSM (regular mobile) and WCDMA (the 3G mobile favoured for the UK market) handsets will begin in the third quarter of next year. Nokia expects sales of the handsets to make up around 10 per cent of its total sales and also predicts its market to expand by 10 per cent over 2002 as the US abandons TDMA networks for GSM and EDGE technology and both Japan and Korea move into WCDMA. The company said it hopes to ship 100,000 3G WCDMA units in 2002 and is pitting itself against rival Ericsson with an aim to conquer a 35 per cent market share of WCDMA. Currently, Nokia holds 30 per cent of the GSM market.