China's leading mobile phone maker Ningbo Bird Co., Ltd. hopes to quadruple its output after signing an agreement with Sagem Communication, a leading French high-tech company.

The two companies plan to build a new joint venture dedicated to research, development and manufacture of mobile phones that will employ 1,000 engineers and technicians in three years.

Ningbo Bird and Sagem will each hold 50 percent of the stakes of the new venture which involves an investment of 6 million US dollars, said Xu Lihua, chairman of Ningbo Bird.

The new joint venture, Ningbo Sagem Bird Research and Development Co., Ltd., will employ 600 engineers and technicians in its first year of operation. That number is expected to expand to 1,000 in three years, said Xu.

According to him, the new joint venture will produce and sell 40 million mobile phones under the brands of BIRD and SAGEM annually, with the BIRD brand phones mainly targeted at the Chinese market and the SAGEM brand phones targeted at the international market.

Ningbo Bird and Sagem began their collaboration in 1999 through sales in China by Ningbo Bird of products based on Sagem communications technology.

Xu said, the two partners plan to develop a range of common products for SAGEM and BIRD brands, and the new joint venture will allow the two sides to purchase low-price parts at unified standards, optimize development costs and enlarge their product line.

As one of China's mobile phone giants, Ningbo Bird reported sales of 10.974 million mobile phones in the first ten months of this year. Some 4.384 million of the products were sold to foreign countries, accounting for more than 60 percent of China's total mobile phone exports.

Sagem is the largest mobile phone producer in France and has developed leading communication technologies.

In 2002, the two sides set up a joint venture, the Ningbo BIRD SAGEM Electronics Corporation Ltd., which has an annual capacity to produce 20 million mobile phones.

(Xinhua News Agency December 2, 2005)