At a ceremony today in Helsinki, Finland witnessed by Chinese Premier Mr. Wen Jiabao and Finnish Premier Mr. Matti Vanhanen, Nokia signed agreements with its Chinese customers China Mobile and PTAC valued at over EUR 2 billion for the full year 2006.

The agreements show Nokia's continued commitment to the Chinese market. To date Nokia has committed over EUR 3.3 billion to investments in China, and continues to invest in manufacturing, sales and R&D in the Chinese market. 

"The signing of these two important agreements is a milestone event for Nokia's operations in China," said Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. "We set up our operations more than 20 years ago with a handful of employees and today we employ over 6700 people in China. It is the single biggest market for Nokia, as well as one of the largest contributors to Nokia's R&D, manufacturing and innovation."

The frame agreement with China Mobile relates to the purchase of GSM/GPRS network equipment from Nokia with a value of approximately EUR 580 million during the full year 2006. The agreement with the Chinese national mobile phone distributor PTAC relates to the purchase of mobile devices from Nokia with an estimated value of at least EUR 1.5 billion for the full year 2006.

Nokia's operations in China include two mobile phone manufacturing facilities,  two network manufacturing facilities, and six R&D units focusing on both the Chinese and global markets. On September 1, 2006 Nokia announced that it is expanding its recently established 3G R&D center in Chengdu, Sichuan province.