Nokia to end CDMA handset production in South Korea

Nokia will stop contracting CDMA mobile phone production with South Korean manufacturers and close its CDMA R&D center in Seoul, several South Korean newspapers have reported.Kari Tuutti, a spokesperson for Nokia, told The Wall Street Journal that the company would make its own handsets for the South Korean market, including models for both the CDMA 2000 and W-CDMA next-generation standards.Telson Electronics and Intercube have been making CDMA phones for sale in South Korea under the Nokia brand name since June 2001, according to a report from The Electronic Times. However, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics (LGE) have long dominated the local market, while the mobile phone giant has struggled to make much headway.The vendor still has a GSM handset production facility in the country, churning out 38 million phones a year.Nokia has another CDMA R&D center in the US.In the third quarter of 2002, Nokia held a 9.4% share in the global CDMA market, compared to a 44.4% share in the GSM market, according to Strategy Analytics.Nokia has nine mobile phone factories around the world, making about 40 different models. It outsources the manufacturing of only 15-20% of its phones.Source: DigiTimes.com