China's mobile phone market to grow 7.7% in 2009

 
The market research firm iSuppli said in a recent report that China's mobile phone market is likely to grow 7.7% in 2009 despite the downward trend in the global market, with handset shipments rising to 239.1 million units, Reuters reported.

Partly boosted by the Chinese government's initiative to provide subsidies to rural residents for home electronics purchases, the world's largest mobile phone market is expected to see its new subscribers exceed 90 million this year, said iSuppli, adding that Chinese mobile phone makers would ship over 360 million units to both domestic and overseas markets, representing a year-on-year rise of 20%.

Currently, China has more than 600 million mobile phone subscribers.

China's three leading telecom carriers recently said they will invest around RMB 100 billion into third-generation (3G) networks this year. However, the research firm said that China will not see its 3G handset output increasing dramatically this year, with only 3% of the total, or 8 million, 3G mobile phones being produced.

In addition, iSuppli noted that Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp<000063><763> will lead the 3G mobile phone market in China, but no specific sales figures were provided.

iSuppli also projects that the mobile phone market in China will maintain its growth in the next few years and estimates that handset shipments will grow to 259.4 million units and 278.2 million units in 2010 and 2011, respectively.