The Finnish company expects sales for its mobile phones to rise by 15 percent as the demand for wireless products revives. With a number of American and Asian carriers now committed to upgrading their networks within the next 12 months, the company says its prospects for 10 percent growth in the GSM/EDGE network infrastructure market are good; it hopes to capture 35 percent of the market W-CDMA during the same period. The company’s quarterly revenue will slowly edge upwards over the course of the year but will accelerate in the fourth quarter by as much as 35 percent, the company said.

Of course, Nokia’s own prospects are dependent on those of the wireless industry as a whole for which it sees market conditions significantly improving in 2002, especially in the U.S.

• Global mobile handset sales will total 380 million, down from an earlier estimate of 390 million, for this year and will reach anywhere between 420 and 440 million in 2002, representing 10 percent to 15 percent growth.
• Total number of mobile subscribers worldwide will reach one billion and topple 1.5 billion by 2005.
• Mobile network infrastructure market will be flat to slightly positive in 2002.

Nokia’s chief executive Jorma Ollila said, "We will be looking for a rebound in the U.S. economy in the fourth quarter of next year; [however], I don’t think there will be any good news from Europe in the coming nine months."