China will become the biggest market for the Swedish telecom equipment giant Ericsson with continued investments and cooperation with local partners, said a top company official.
Saturday's China Daily quoted Carl-Henric Sovanberg, company president as saying "China is very, very important for Ericsson and is very likely to become our biggest market in the world."
While the telecom markets in North American and Europe slow, the Asian market is going from strength to strength in spite of setbacks brought about by SARS, said Sovanberg.
China, with its fast growth and huge potential, is undoubtedly one of Ericsson's targets, he said. Its market currently stands second only to the United States.
He said that investment in research and development in China would grow at an annual rate of 25 percent and reach US$500 million in total, almost doubling the US$290 million between 1985 and 2000.
About 20 percent of Ericsson's 3,000 employees in China are engaged in research and development work. At the same time, the Swedish giant will strengthen its presence in the fixed line telecom market.
Ericsson China also announced on Thursday that it had signed a US$30 million contract with China Mobile's Hebei provincial subsidiary to supply equipment and software for the expansion of the latter's global system for mobile communications (GSM) network.
(China Daily June 14, 2003)
