Sat, May 29, 2004 page12

• World Business Quick Take

  • AGENCIES
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  ■ Telecoms

  New phone for China market

  Motorola Inc, the world's second-largest maker of cellular phones, said it will debut a new phone in China in the third quarter and introduce its so-called push-to- talk mobile service in the country this year. Motorola will introduce a phone that works on both the GSM and CDMA standards, using China Unicom Ltd and Verizon Communications as launch customers, said company president Mike Zafirovski. Also this year, China may become the 19th country in which Motorola sells its mobile service that allows users to talk at the push of a button rather than dialing a number. "The Global Phone will have high-tier capabilities, mostly geared toward the traveling business executive," Zafirovski told reporters in Beijing. "We'll be able to increase our market share here because we're one of the few players that actually have push-to-talk handsets."

  ■ Automobiles

  New Chinese rules coming

  China's long-awaited blueprint for the develop-ment of its auto industry, expected to be launched within days, will ease some planned restrictions for foreign vehicle manufac-turers while erecting others, state press said yesterday. As part of the new policy, the government would raise barriers to entry to one of China's fastest growing industries by insisting new projects must have a minimum investment of 2 billion yuan (US$240 mil-lion), the China Daily said. However, some measures previously included in the draft policy -- such as banning manufacturers from selling imported and domestically-made cars through the same channels -- have been dropped after protests from multina-tionals. Foreign branded cars made through joint ventures currently account for 90 percent of passenger car sales in China.

  ■ Aviation

  Valuair seeking investors

  Singapore's first budget airline, Valuair, is on the lookout for new investors as it beefs up its fledgling route network, a spokesman said yesterday. The company is also hopeful it will soon be able to secure landing rights in Jakarta, resolving an administrative dispute with Indonesian aviation authorities, spokesman Nilesh Pritam said. The dispute prevented the planned launch of Valuair's service to Jakarta earlier this month. Ticket sales on the route have been suspended. Valuair began operating May 1 and serves Bangkok and Hong Kong from Singapore. Nilesh said Valuair wants to add more routes by the end of the year, but did not name the planned destinations. "We're looking to fly to high density destinations that are about five hours away. We would like to fly to a few more by end of the year,"Pritam said. Valuair's first round of fund-raising raised S$33 million (US$19.4 million).

  ■ Automobiles

  Fiat chairman dies

  Fiat chairman Umberto Agnelli, who helped lead his family's vast Turin-based automaker out of hard

  times and into better financial shape, has died of cancer little more than a year after taking the com-pany's top position, a Fiat spokesman said yesterday. He was 69. He died late Thursday, Fiat spokesman Raffaello Porro said. The company acknowledged that Agnelli was undergoing serious treatment for cancer last month. Agnelli, who was long sidelined in his family's auto empire, got his chance to take over after his elder brother Giovanni Agnelli died in January last year.
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