Paris, Dec 09: Mobile phone handset sales grew 22 percent in the third quarter from the same period of 2002 and could reach half a billion units this year, a study released yesterday said. Worldwide sales of mobile phones reached 132.8 million units in the third quarter, the study by US research firm Gartner found.

"The mobile terminals market is exhibiting extraordinarily strong growth in 2003, and we believe it could reach half a billion units this year," Gartner analyst Ben Wood said in a statement.

Nokia was the top maker although its market share slipped to 34.2 percent in the third quarter from 35.5 percent in the same period last year. Motorola was the second-biggest maker with 14.7 percent of the market in the third quarter, followed by Samsung with 11.2 percent, Siemens 9.1 percent, LG with 5.3 percent and Sony Ericsson also with 5.3 percent. Other handset makers had 20.2 percent of the market.

Growth in sales was driven by users getting more sophisticated handsets, with camera phones in particular on the rise.

But strong growth in sales was also seen among first-time users in Asia and Eastern Europe. Bureau Report