4th Quarter Cellular Handset Sales Hit 96 Million,
Driving Total for 1999 to 291 Million, Strategis Group
Reports; Strong Gains Expected for 1st Quarter 2000
Western Europe Has World's Largest Subscriber Base; Nokia Leads Manufacturers With 27
Percent Market Share
WASHINGTON, May 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Worldwide cellular/PCS handset sales of 96 million in the fourth quarter of 1999
exceeded expectations according to quarterly analysis released by The Strategis Group. Nokia led manufacturers with 27
percent global market share.
``While figures for the first quarter 2000 are still coming in, we expect to see gains of 25 percent, with the highest upsurge
coming from CDMA handset sales,'' Sylvia Panayi, senior analyst at The Strategis Group, said.
For all of 1999, cellular/PCS handset sales rocketed to 291 million units, an increase of almost 65 percent over 1998 sales of
178 million units.
The Strategis Group is made up of communications industry analysts who publish in-depth research reports on the wireless,
Internet, broadband, cable TV and satellite industries. The Strategis Group's market studies, valuation and strategic planning
provide crucial information to U.S. and international communications industry leaders.
Panayi said that ``CDMA technology established itself as the second dominating technology since the third quarter of 1999 and
will continue to benefit from the shift from analog to digital networks. As the European markets mature and 3G deployment
becomes more evident in 2002, we will see a slowdown in the growth of 2G GSM handset sales.''
Nokia sold 78.5 million handsets last year, an increase of 92 percent over 1998 sales of 40.8 million. Europe was Nokia's
strongest market. Nokia also led the United States market with 34 percent of all cellular/PCS handset sales, followed by
Motorola with 20 percent. Motorola increased its global handset sales in 1999 to 50 million units, up from 33 million units in
1998 and captured second place in the world with 17 percent market share. Ericsson placed third in market share with 11
percent.
In terms of subscribers, fourth quarter gains were the largest in Western Europe, ending the year with 185 million or 38 percent
of the world's cellular/PCS subscribers.
``We've seen the number of cellular subscribers explode across Western Europe for the past several quarters in particular,
driven by the widespread adoption of prepaid services and the aggressive licensing and deployment of 2.5 and 3G
technologies,'' Ozgur Aytar, analyst at The Strategis Group, said. ``Western European subscriber levels surpassed Asia Pacific
for the first time in the fourth quarter of 1999, and are expected to remain dominant through 2004.''
With more than 75 million subscribers, the United States was the largest cellular/PCS market at the end of 1999. Japan, China,
Italy and the United Kingdom followed. The Strategis Group forecasts that China's cellular/PCS market will surpass the United
States and Japan in 2004.
The Strategis Group's findings are in two data products: Strategis dataBank©: World Cellular/PCS Handset Sales, and
Strategis dataBank©: World Cellular/PCS Subscribers and Operators.
The Strategis Group, an edr (e data resources) company -- with offices in Washington, D.C., London and
Singapore--publishes in-depth industry research reports, provides customized consulting services and supplies continuous
information solutions to the cable TV, satellite, Internet, competitive telephony, broadband and wireless communications
industries. Strategis dataBank©: World Cellular/PCS Handset Sales and Strategis dataBank©: World Cellular/PCS
Subscribers and Operators are available on CD-ROM. Please contact The Strategis Group at 202-530-7500 or
sales@StrategisGroup.com for more information.
SOURCE: Strategis Group
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