Helsinki, Aug 28: Finland's Nokia took steps to bolster its position as the world's leading mobile phone maker on Wednesday, launching two cheap models aimed at developing markets such as India and Russia. The move shows the increasing importance of developing countries, which offer companies billions of new potential users at a time when sales are slowing in markets like Europe, where many people already own mobile phones.
"In coming years, new growth markets will be the key driver for the mobile industry," Nokia chief executive Jorma Ollila said at a news conference in Moscow.

"In fact, when we look at global subscription growth, 80 per cent of it will, in our opinion, come from new growth markets in the next five years."
Nokia also launched a low-cost line of GSM network equipment aimed at countries like India and Russia, where operators shoulder a much higher cost of capital, cover huge territory and must balance network spending with low customer revenues. Bureau Report