Nokia Oy, the Helsinki-based telecommunications company and world’s second largest maker of mobile phones, has had an even better first quarter than its Scandinavian rival Ericsson. Nokia has turned in net profits which shot up 231% to the equivalent of $206.6m, on revenue that rose 42.9% to $2,182.2. And just like the Swedes across the border, Nokia’s mobile phones have been at the heart of matters, contributing 54% of the company’s total revenues. The Mobile Phone section also turned a previous year’s loss into a healthy profit for the equivalent quarter and is mainly responsible for the huge percentage growth in reported profits. Nokia now employs around 32,650 staff and, choosing its words carefully, it calls itself the world’s largest manufacturer of digital mobile phones. But China is where all the action is these days and Nokia and Ericsson are going head to head in what they both regard as the fastest growing telecommunications market in the world. Both companies have taken orders in the region of $20m to supply equipment for Shanghai’s fourth mobile network, where the number of digital mobile phone users is set to double to 600,000 in a single year.
