S. Korea cell phone exports likely to hit record

S. Korea cell phone exports likely to hit record

Associated Press, Seoul

South Korea is expected to export a record US$14.5 billion
worth of cellular phones this year in a major boost to the
country's economic recovery efforts, the Yonhap news agency said
on Friday.

South Korea exported 112 million cell phones worth $9.6
billion last year, accounting for 26.8 percent of worldwide
production.

In the first eight months of this year, cellular phone exports
jumped 36.1 percent compared to the same period last year to
$7.45 billion, Yonhap said, quoting officials at the Ministry of
Information and Communication.

The officials predicted that shipments will pick up during the
remaining three months, helping prop up the nation's slumping
economy, Yonhap said. The country's gross domestic product - the
sum of goods and services produced - is expected to be under 3
percent this year, compared to 6.3 percent last year.

The companies leading the export growth are Samsung
Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Co., which together are
expected to ship more than $10 billion worth of cell phones this
year.

Samsung Electronics, the world's third-largest handset vendor,
said that it can reach its sales target of $7.27 billion this
year, helped by expanded demand in the North American and Middle
East markets.

Samsung Electronics also plans to sell smart phones, which
feature an operating system for running software in handsets, in
North America in the third-quarter.

LG Electronics, the world's sixth-largest handset maker, also
targets $2.73 billion in cell phone exports this year, Yonhap
said.

LG Electronics officials said its cell phone exports to the
United States are expected to far exceed expectations, helped by
aggressive marketing campaigns by the country's two wireless
giants -Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS - and faster-than-
expected handset replacements as more consumers are switching to
camera-equipped phones, Yonhap said.

Meanwhile, Pantech & Curitel Co., South Korea's third-largest
mobile handset maker, said on Friday it has received an order to
export 2.6 million cell phones worth $430 million to American
distributor Audiovox Corp. The CDMA-based phones would include
color screens and built-in cameras.

"The deal provides us a stable foothold to enter the U.S.
mobile phone market," the company said in a statement.

"This is our first shipment of high-quality phones to the U.S.
market and we want to expand sales further in the future," Song
Moon-seop, a chief executive of the company, said in the
statement.