The Japanese company hopes to receive orders also from European mobile phone operators, in which NTT DoCoMo holds stakes, Katsura said. These include KPN Mobile NV and Hutchison 3G UK Holdings Ltd NEC was chosen by the Hutchison Whampoa Ltd group to supply high-speed phones.
European mobile phone operators are currently expanding General Packet Radio System services that allow constant Internet access by bundling data into packets, before introducing more advanced technology such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System as early as in the middle of next year.
With the expansion of new services like GPRS, global mobile- phone shipments next year will rise to as much as 470 million handsets from between 370 million to 390 million this year, Katsura said. The Japanese handset market will be little changed at 45 million units, he estimated.
Matsushita Communication aims to boost its global market share back to about 5 percent from about 3.4 percent this year. It also targets a 27 percent share in the local market next year from about 18 percent this year.
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