Korea LG handset exports jump

SEOUL: South Korea's second largest home appliance maker, LG Electronics Inc., said on Wednesday it aimed to export 11 million mobile handsets worth US$1.7 billion in 2002.

LG, the world's 10th largest handset manufacturer, exported seven million units worth $1 billion last year.

"We aim to join the world's top five by 2005 with exports of 45 million handsets in 2005," LG said in a statement.

The company said it planned to ship 5.5 million CDMA (code division multiple access) handsets to the U.S. market this year. It has been supplying handsets to top U.S. mobile carrier Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS Group, the No.4 U.S. wireless company, since 1999.

LG said it would export two million GSM (global system for mobile communications) handsets to the European and Chinese markets this year.

Sales at LG's mobile handset business division were 783.1 billion won ($616.8 million) in the first quarter, up 55.7 percent from a year earlier, it said.

Exports amounted to 480.9 billion won, while domestic sales were 302.2 billion won. --Reuters