Mobile Lines Up 47.4% at End-Aug, Nokia, Motorola Handset Leaders"

Argentine mobile operators registered 27.6 million lines in service at the end of August this year, up 47.4% compared to the end of August 2005 while mobile traffic was up 21.1% year-on-year, Argentine statistics bureau Indec said in a statement.

Local telephony traffic was up 4.9% while domestic long distance calls rose 22% year-on-year. The number of outgoing international long distance calls increased 29% while the number of minutes rose 12.2%.

Fixed lines totaled 8.99 million, up 1.8% compared to 8.83 million in August 2005. Public phones totaled 157,500, down 0.1% compared to 157,700 in August 2005.

MOTOROLA, NOKIA HANDSET LEADERS

US mobile handset manufacturer Motorola and Finnish mobile equipment supplier Nokia lead the mobile handset market in Argentina, with a 68% market share, according to a study by local consultancy Prince & Cooke.

The leaders were followed by Korean hardware manufacturer Samsung, French equipment supplier Alcatel, Japanese-Swedish handset manufacturer Sony Ericsson and German equipment supplier Siemens.

According to the study, 22% of mobile telephony subscribers plan to change their handset within the next six months while 50% of users are willing to pay up to 300 pesos (US$96) for a new telephone.

BNAmericas.com"

Posted to the site on 4th October 2006