The company opened its second customer service centre in Beijing last week at 22 Fuchengmenwai Street. Its first service centre was located in Wangfujing, one of the largest commercial areas in the capital city.

Sales of Ericsson hand-held phones were reported strong during the first half of this year. New models exhibited at international information technology shows held in Hannover and Singapore in February and last month are expected to be marketed in China during the latter half of this year.

In Singapore, the company displayed the first GPRS (general packet radio services) phone.

"Unveiling the first GPRS mobile phone puts us in a leading position in the mobile handset market. This is a key factor in our winning more GPRS contracts, and in our selling of systems and handsets based on 3G (third generation) technologies," said Christine Zhang, director of the company's North China Market Operation Sector.

"We are stepping up our pace to release both low-end and high-end handsets which have been adapted to different customer segments," she said.

With new models expected to debut in China, Ericsson is increasingly confident in the Chinese market, Zhang said.

"To promote sales is not our only purpose," Zhang said. "Our business guideline in China is 'mobile telephones plus customer service.'"

"Pre-sales and after-sales services are a vital part of our business activity in China," she said.

Beijing is one of Chinese cities with the largest number of handheld phone users. Ericsson's customers have also increased continuously. The new service centre, which is open seven days a week, aims to provide convenient, prompt and detailed services to Ericsson's users, Zhang said.

At the centre, customers can get an overall view of new Ericsson models and consult technicians about functions, capacities and configurations of phone models.

All technicians in charge of maintenance of Ericsson products at the centre have been professionally trained and have passed examinations. With advanced instruments for telephone maintenance and components from manufacturers, the technicians are capable of providing standard service to customers.

According to Zhang, Ericsson has opened 27 customer service centres and more than 50 maintenance shops in at least 30 provinces, cities and autonomous regions.

In small cities and remote areas, the company has established vehicle-mounted mobile service stations to meet the demands of local customers.

Ericsson has 23 offices and eight joint venture enterprises in China with a total of 3,800 employees.

(China Daily)