LG Sees Its Mobile Sales Up 9% This Year

South Korea's LG Electronics, the world's third-largest mobile phone maker, sees its mobile phone sales rising about 9 percent this year as demand growth in Asia lifts the global market.

Ma Chang, vice president for marketing strategy for LG's mobile arm, said the global mobile market will hold up better than expected to be flat or only slightly lower this year than in 2008, with continued growth in Asia.

He expected LG sales of 110 million units this year, rising to more than 200 million by 2012.

"The figure shows that the downturn seems to be less impactful. The total market size will be about the same for 2009 as in 2008," Ma told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

"I think Asia will grow in high single digits this year," he said on the sidelines of a regional technology conference.

The mobile market had been expected to shrink by up to 10 percent this year amid the global economic downturn, leaving handset makers striving to prop up sales by focusing on a few growth areas such as smartphones and emerging markets.

The CEO of LG's mobile communications said last week the company is aiming to maintain its market share at 10 percent for this year and become the No.2 player by 2012.

In handset terms, LG trails Nokia and Samsung Electronics, but is ahead of Motorola and Sony Ericsson. In 2008, LG sold 100.7 million  phones and claimed about 9 percent market share.

"We can only project based on the current situation and the current market share ... but I think roughly more than 200 million units. That's the threshold we have," Ma said, when asked about how big LG sales would be if it becomes the second biggest industry player.

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