Siemens expects 2004 mobile sales boost from Asia and Russia

Siemens AG expects mobile phone sales in financial year 2004 to rise by over 5 million units, due to growing demand in China, India and Russia, the chairman of the mobile communication division has said.

The company, Europe's largest electronics and electrical engineering firm has operations worldwide and is a leading global manufacturer of telecom network equipment, including mobile phones.

Last year, the unit sold 39.1 million mobile phones but expect sales this year to exceed 45 million units.

The company expects its mobile network division of ICM, which makes conventional, 3G and UMTS mobile networks, to grow by more than 5%, outpacing the market.

Siemens, which has so far manufactured the on-board units for a system to collect a motorway toll from trucks in Germany, has said it is open to doing further work with the Toll Collect consortium.

Toll Collect, consisting of DaimerChrysler AG, Deutsche Telekom AG and French motorway operator Cofiroute, was awarded a €7bn contract by the German government to set up and implement a road toll system for heavy trucks, due to start end-August last year.

German transport minister Manfred Stolpe cancelled the contract last week, after the toll system was still not working.