Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
14 Apr 2004 13:25 PDT
Are you familiar with the country-specific market guides published by
the US Government?
They are pretty up-to-date and quite comprehensive. For instance,
here is the summary from the China report on Internet and Wireless
technology, published January 2004:
=====
Summary
By the end of July 2003, the total number of wireless users in China
was close to 239.5 million. China?s wireless market expanded very
rapidly in the early 1990?s, and then continued to grow, but at a
gradually flatter rate. By 2001 it had entered a low-growth period,
with less dramatic increases in revenues expected for major operators
and service providers. Even so, double-digit growth in this market has
continued, against a backdrop of 8 percent economic growth for China
despite a worldwide recession.
Wireless technology is rapidly evolving. There are a number of sectors
in this industry, include wireless paging, GSM (GPRS) and CDMA mobile
telephony, SMS (MMS) messaging, and WLAN. Wireless paging, until just
a couple of years ago, was a primary wireless service, but with very
limited applications for end users. GSM (GPRS) and CDMA are much more
mature wireless services with full mobile cellular applications for
end users.
Sales prospects for product and service providers in China?s wireless
market in the next couple of years will be driven mostly by continued
expansion and upgrading of the existing system, and the development
and implementation of a new generation of networks and services.
Ambitious investment by China?s telecommunications companies always
means enormous business opportunities for U.S. telecommunications
service providers and equipment vendors.
=====
And here is some fairly typical text from the body of the report:
=====
The China wireless market consists of four major players: China
Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom and China Netcom. China Mobile and
China Unicom provide mobile services. PHS service is provided by China
Telecom and China Netcom. WLAN service is provided by China Telecom,
China Mobile, China Netcom and China Unicom. In addition, some other
companies are preparing to enter the wireless market, including
Railcom and SateCom. There are also a number of Internet service
providers (ISPs) doing business indirectly with the wireless market.
In the mobile handset market, there were 37 handset manufacturers in
China by the end of 2002. Of these, 29 companies were manufacturing
only GSM, 6 were manufacturing only CDMA GSM, and 14 companies were
manufacturing both. The total handset production exceeded 200 million
by the end of 2002. Nokia, Motorola, Siemens and Ericsson were the
four leading foreign companies, and they dominated the Chinese mobile
handset market, with a combined market share of 80 percent in 2001 and
66 percent in 2002. Samsung, other Korean, and Japanese manufacturers
held an 11.15 percent market share in 2002. Meanwhile Chinese domestic
manufacturers have gradually seized market share.
=====
The full report is about 20 pages in length, and covers major players,
market size and expected growth, and key contacts, among other things.
It is not a full answer to your question, by any means. But if you
are interested in having a copy of this report (and I'd be glad to
check on the availability for Korea, or other countries) perhaps you
would like to post a new question (or change the parameters of your
current question) in order to receive these reports as an answer.
Let me know if this would be of interest.
