Nokia, Qualcomm bullish on China

For both Nokia and Qualcomm, the prize is enormous -- China boasts a mobile market of over 85 million users

In this story: An energized market Investments in training RELATED STORIES, SITES

By CNN's Kristie Lu Stout

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- The verdict is out -- wireless players will show China the money.

During the first of a series of executive mind melds at Hong Kong's Fortune Global Forum, the chief executives of Qualcomm and Nokia nodded in agreement that, yes, the mobile sector will see growth in China.

"The slowdown in Europe and the U.S. has not affected the way we look at China," said Nokia president and chief executive Jorma Ollila.

Ollila said Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, has invested a total of $1.7 billion in the mainland market.

"It's a sizable sum and it will continue," he added.

An energized market

China boasts one of the largest mobile markets in the world with 85.3 million cellular subscribers in 2000, up from 43.3 million in 1999, according to research by Gartner Dataquest.

Analysts attribute the growth to increased competition, lower handset prices and service packages, as well as the rapid adoption of prepaid services.

The impending build-out of a CDMA network by China's number-two mobile operator China Unicom will further energize the market.

But industry watchers warn that regulatory issues and price incentives will play a major role in determining the scale and success of the project.

Investments in training

CDMA, or code division multiple access, is a wireless standard that allows carriers to cram more traffic across limited airwaves than the competing GSM standard than now prevails in China and Europe.

Qualcomm, which holds the lucrative patents on the technology, has long been frustrated by China's off-again, on-again plans to build a CDMA network.

"We wish we could go faster, but there are factors outside our control," said Qualcomm chief executive Dr Irwin Jacobs.

"But the greatest shortage that will slow us down is the lack of trained people. So we are putting resources in training."

Nokia is also pushing capital to train China's pool of abundant talent for post-WTO productivity.

"The cooperation we have in training personnel will increase to the number of millions we'll invest," said Ollila.

For both Nokia and Qualcomm, the stakes are enormous. Some watchers forecast that China will surpass the United States as the world's largest mobile market by 2002.

The Fortune Global Forum is organised by Fortune magazine, a unit of AOL Time Warner. CNN is also a division of AOL Time Warner.

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