Nokia sees huge replacement demand for mobile phones

MUMBAI: Nokia, already riding high in the fast-growing Indian handset market, is also expecting big business coming from the replacement market, a top company official said on Sunday.

"There are 21.5 crore mobile users. Though many of them may have bought a mobile phone over the last few months, there are still many more users who have been using their mobile phones for long and thus are likely to opt for new phones, Nokia India Marketing Director Devinder Kishore said on the sidelines of a function to announce the appointment of Shah Rukh Khan as the company's brand ambassador.

He, however, said it was difficult to say as to how long a person would use his handset and it differed from person to person.

Quoting figures from a study by Voice and Data magazine which said Nokia commands a massive 70 per cent market share in India, he said the company launched 40 models last financial year and the pace would not slacken. Incidentally, India is the second largest market for the company globally.

When asked about the growth projections, he said that mobile sales in India are about 75 to 80 lakh per month.