The winners take it all

摘要

While operators focus on stabilising ARPU, Nokia and Ericsson find themselves at opposite ends of the financial spectrum. But is the industry about to be thrown back on the 2G treadmill? "We have had a very healthy year of profitability in 2001," asserts Lauri Kivinen, Head of Corporate Communications at Nokia. Although this comment sounds misplaced with regards to the current climate, in relation to Nokia's better than expected results released in late January, it is not. Despite the turbulent conditions of 2001, Kivinen considers that Nokia "did relatively well." While Jorma Ollila, Nokia Chairman and CEO, in comments from the results, said, "we achieved significant market share gains, maintaining excellent profitability in our mobile phone business. We increased our full-year market share in mobile phones for the fourth consecutive year, reaching approximately 37%―almost double the level of 19% in 1997."