Korean digital manufacturer, LG Electronics, which recently entered the Middle East’s mobile phone market with product launches in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iran, Qatar and Pakistan, plans to spread its GSM product network to Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain within the next quarter. LG aims to enter the world’s top-five handset supplier league by 2005.
“The launch into three additional Middle East markets is in line with the company’s plan to supply over 11 million handsets globally this year,” said M.B. Shin, LG Electronics’ Middle East & Africa Operations’ president.
“We have received a highly encouraging response to our mobile products within the UAE, Iran and Qatar and now intend to launch an additional model, for the budget conscious, within the next month and several new models, including a full color screen version, in the third quarter,” he added.
LG Electronics entered the Middle East’s mobile phone market in February this year with the launch of two handsets—the LG-600 and LG-510W. Both combine multimedia power with mobile telephony and data carriage. In April it launched a bright red, lightweight version of the award-winning LG-510 handset.
“The additional sector launches planned for this year will ensure that on a regional level LG builds a solid mobile phone base from which to significantly move the Middle East business forward during 2003,” explained Shin. LG Electronics expects to export $1.7 billion worth of handsets globally this year.
LG plans to develop a wide range of products, such as CDMA, GSM and 3G handsets while focusing on making inroads into the international market to increase its global handset supply from 15 million sets this year, to 25 million sets in 2003 and 35 million in 2005.
In the first quarter of this year, LGE’s mobile handset company grew by 55.7 percent over 2001 to record operating income of $77.8 million. It included the export of 300,000 GSM units. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
