Nortel Networks Corp, North America's biggest maker of telephone equipment, said yesterday it aimed to increase sales from Asia to 25 percent of the company's total, as demand increased for wireless networks in China and India.

Nortel may meet the sales target at the end of this year, Asia Pacific President Francois Lancon told Bloomberg Television in Hong Kong. The Toronto-based company generated 22 percent of its second-quarter sales from the Asia region, he said.

The network-equipment maker has been seeking orders from China and India, the world's two fastest-growing wireless markets, to sustain growth in Asia. United States sales are expected to slow as customers, including Sprint Nextel Corp, are projected to cut spending.

"The fact that China is focusing on CDMA is fantastic news for us," Lancon said, referring to the code-division multiple access wireless-phone network being acquired by China Telecommunications Corp.

Wang Xiaochu, president of China Telecommunications, said last week the nation's biggest fixed-line phone company may spend 80 billion yuan (US$11.7 billion) to expand the CDMA network it was buying from China United Telecommunications Corp.

Nortel fell the most in four years in New York trading on Friday after Chief Executive Officer Mike Zafirovski said a customer was cutting spending. Analysts identified the customer as Sprint Nextel, the third-biggest wireless operator in the US.

On Friday, Nortel reported its second-quarter net loss widened to US$138 million from US$103 million.

(Shanghai Daily August 5, 2008)