Finland sees record phone sales in December

HELSINKI, Finland-Handset makers enjoyed a bit of good news to begin 2003 with reports that Finland saw record sales of mobile phones in December 2002. Wholesale deliveries of mobile phones in Finland numbered 175,000 in December, beating a previous record of 171,582 in September 2000, according to the Finnish Mobile Communication Suppliers Association.

Finland, which is a considered a saturated mobile market, is regarded as a gauge for other Western European mobile markets.

Many of the sales were new high-end models, providing optimism to handset makers whose futures depend on consumers replacing current mobile phones with new units that include multimedia messaging services and color screens.