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Technology Stocks : Ericsson overlook? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Oravetz who wrote (4931)	2/7/2002 12:46:11 PM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 5390

Sonera forecasts 3G delay in key Finnish market <<If 3G will take off only by 2004 or 2005 that may mean the end of Ericsson.>> Sonera forecasts 3G delay in key Finnish market By Nicholas George in Stockhom Published: February 6 2002 12:13 \| Last Updated: February 6 2002 18:01 Sonera, the Finnish telecom group once seen at the forefront of mobile technologies, on Wednesday forecast that a mass market for 3G mobile services would not appear until 2004 or 2005. The company, which through its joint ventures holds greenfield 3G licences in Germany, Italy and Spain, also warned of slowing growth in its exisitng Finnish mobile operations where the lack of handsets equipped to exploit the new GPRS and 3G networks would act as a brake. Finland is one of the most mature mobile markets in the world, with a penetration rate of more than 75 per cent, and Sonera has been seen as a test case of whether new services and technologies can spur fresh growth. Non-voice traffic, such as messaging and data, account for 12 per cent of mobile sales and 3G test networks have already been opened. Yet the company said that growth in its Finnish mobile operations was "expected to slow down significantly from the figure a year ago and to be markedly less than 5 per cent in 2002." The comments came as Sonera announced a pre-tax loss before extraordinary items of E4m ($3.48m) in the 12 months to December 31, compared to a profit of E314m a year earlier. Sales rose 6 per cent to E2.19bn. The board is proposing no dividend be issued. The state controlled operator, which was forced to make a E1bn rights issue in November, also announced that it had sold E393m worth of its shares in Deutsche Telekom since December 1 bringing its net debt down to around E2.8bn. Sonera still holds approximately E309 million worth of DT shares which it intends to sell. The company lost E202m through its associated companies in 2001, mainly due to the problems of the Turkish companies Turkcell and Fintur, and its German UMTS joint venture Group 3G. However it forecast that Group 3G, a joint venture with Telefónica Moviles of Spain, should break-even in 2006 after gaining a 10 per cent market share. The company forecast that overall its comparable ebitda would improve by 30 per cent in 2002 from the 2001 level of E562m.