Business news with words billion+bloomberg+nokia. 4 news.

A CONTRACT manufacturer of mobile phones for customers, including Motorola Inc, and its parent could raise as much as HK$7.7 billion (US$989 million) in a Hong Kong initial public offering. BYD Electronic and parent BYD Co are selling 550 million shares, equivalent to a 25-percent stake, at HK$10.75 to HK$14 each, according to an e-mail sent to international institutions, Bloomberg News reported. BYD Co, based in Shenzhen in south China, has more than doubled in Hong Kong trading this year on expectations it may profit for a sale of its handset-component unit. BYD Electronic, which competes with Foxconn International Holdings Ltd for contracts to make phones, is building production plants in China, Hungary and Romania to meet demand. BYD Electronic makes casings and keypads for Nokia Oyj and Samsung Electronics Co, the world's top two mobile-phone makers, Daiwa Institute of Research said in a November 23 report. The Chinese company also assembles phones for Illinois-based

MOBILE-PHONE shipments worldwide this year will probably increase 20 percent, more than previously estimated, because of higher Nokia Oyj sales and demand in China and India, JPMorgan Chase & Co has said. Shipments will rise to 1.2 billion units, compared with a previous estimate for 1.17 billion, Bhavin Shah, head of JPMorgan's Asia-Pacific technology research team, wrote in a report on Saturday. Next year, shipments will probably climb 15 percent, Shah said, according to Bloomberg News. Industry leader Nokia and Asia's biggest producer, Samsung Electronics Co, reported mobile-phone earnings that beat analysts' estimates this month. China will extend its lead as the biggest market for handsets after shipments rise 30 percent this year, according to the report. "This shows those who get customers in emerging markets win," said Robyn Hsu, who counts shares of mobile-phone chipmaker Mediatek Inc amid the US$152 million he helps manage at Truswell Securities Investment

NOKIA Oyj, the world's biggest maker of mobile phones, said yesterday its third-quarter profit surged 85 percent, beating analysts' estimates, as new models helped capture market share from Motorola Inc. Net income rose to 1.56 billion euros (US$2.23 billion), or 40 cents a share, from 845 million euros, or 21 cents, a year earlier. Sales rose 28 percent to 12.9 billion euros, Espoo, Finland-based Nokia said in a statement. Nokia shares jumped 7.5 percent after the report, Bloomberg News reported. The company introduced higher-priced handsets with navigation and multimedia functions to win customers from Motorola, which posted two straight quarterly losses this year. Nokia Chief Executive Officer Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo has made acquisitions to spur growth from Internet content such as music, games and maps, taking on Apple Inc and TomTom NV. "Nokia's gap to the number two handset manufacturer has never been this big before," Michael Schroeder, an analyst at

QUALCOMM Inc has earned more than US$11 billion in royalties from its cell-phone technologies this decade. Just as the company bet those payments would accelerate, some of its customers are starting to balk, Bloomberg News reported. Nokia Oyj, the largest mobile-phone maker, is seeking to persuade a United States trade judge that its mobile phones don't use some of Qualcomm's patents. An initial decision is due next month. A loss could force Qualcomm to cut its fees, at a time when its chip designs are taking over the industry. At stake is a patent-licensing business that provided 76 percent of operating profit last year. Qualcomm may have to make concessions, said patent lawyer David Airan of Leydig, Voit & Mayer in Chicago. That could prompt other handset makers to demand price cuts, eroding San Diego-based Qualcomm's position in the US$39 billion market for mobile-phone chips. "Qualcomm will not be able to take its royalty model further, that's absolutely