LG Electronics ranks 5th on the global mobile phone market

SA released global mobile phone survey results for the first quarter of 2003...

- LGE supplied 5.6 million units to capture 5.2% market share, outperforming Sony Ericsson.

- LGE wrestled the second spot from Motorola on the CDMA market and ranked 7th on the GSM market in just two years. The company is rapidly conquering the global market.

- Strategies to expand CDMA exports to North America and boost the GSM market paid off, allowing the company to capture the 5th spot on the global market quickly.

Two years ago, LGE ranked 10th on the global mobile phone market. Today, the company has wrestled the 5th spot from global mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson.

According to market data for the first quarter of 2003 released by world-class market survey agency Strategy Analytics, LGE supplied 5.6 million CDMA and GSM mobile phones worldwide and captured 5.2% market share. The electronics company also outperformed Sony Ericsson, which supplied 5.2 million units and captured 5% market share. LGE now formally ranks as one of the top global players, according to the agency.

In particular, LGE supplied 4.5 million CDMA handsets and grabbed the second spot from Motorola, which reported a 20.1% market share. This reinforced Korea`s reputation as a CDMA country. Two years after penetrating the GSM market, LGE captured the 7th spot in terms of market share after it supplied 1.1 million units and posted a 1.6% market share. As such, LGE has emerged as one of the top Korean players on the global mobile phone market together with Samsung Electronics.

For the CDMA market, LGE has continued to boost the high-tech GSM mobile phone business on the Europe and China markets and post remarkable growth. This year, the company plans to export 6.4 million GSM mobile handsets.

Strategy Analytics noted how LGE`s sales grew by over 81% in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, when it supplied 3.1 million units. Every year, the electronics company increases the CDMA mobile handsets sold worldwide by over 50% and consequently achieves a relatively high growth rate.

"On the global mobile phone market, LG Electronics has been climbing four notches every year. We ranked 14th in 2000, 10th in 2001, and 6th in 2002 after posting consistently high growth rates," LGE Telecommunication Equipment & Handset Company President Kim Jong-Eun explained. He hastened to add that LGE was able to zoom all the way to the 5th spot despite the SARS scare, the Iraq war, and the downturn in the global economy. "The strategy that we launched to expand CDMA exports to North America and the GSM market worldwide proved to be effective," he said.

Early this year, LGE planned to develop third-generation mobile phones and other innovative products aside from CDMA and GSM mobile phones, penetrate overseas markets aggressively, supply a total of 45 million mobile phones worldwide by 2005, and consequently take a giant leap forward as a true top-tier player.