Ningbo Bird Co. Ltd., one of China's largest homegrown handset makers, plans to capture a 2 percent share of the Malaysian market next year in a bid to boost its overseas sales.

Ningbo Bird had set a modest monthly sales target of 5,000 units in the first half of 2005, the company said Tuesday, about nine months after entering the competitive Malaysian market, which has been dominated by global giants like Nokia, Motorola and Samsung.

"We have sold nearly 10,000 units since we started operations in Malaysia in March, and we plan to establish Bird as the country’s leading mobile phone brand," the company said in a statement.

"Our goal is to have equal domestic and overseas sales volume within five years, with each reaching 20 million units."

Ningbo Bird has sold more than 3 million mobile phones to 32 countries this year.

(Shenzhen Daily December 30, 2004)