Nokia Signs US$2 billion Chinese Deal

Finnish handset giant Nokia has reportedly signed an agreement to supply US$2 billion worth of mobile phones to China Postel, a subsidiary of China P&T Appliances. In addition to the contract, both companies say they have agreed to strengthen strategic ties, in particular with regard to channel development, resource investment, and marketing management.

China Postel has a comprehensive distribution network for both mobile phone products and services and currently has a share of nearly 30% of the Chinese market for mobile phones.

According to the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry (MII), there were 555.77 million mobile subscribers in the country at the end of January 2008. This indicated a growth of 1.55% a month and an annual growth rate of 18.9%. The number of subscribers at the end of January accounted for 41.6% of the country's population.