And eMobile's costs are low, partly because it is the only Japanese operator that does not rely on domestic equipment-makers, buying instead from Ericsson of Sweden and Huawei of China.

ECONOMIST: Face value

The world's three dominant cellphone makers, Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola, account for upwards of 85% of China's handset market.

CNN: Cyborgs and Biochips

The GSM selection ushered into China foreign network equipment and mobile phone vendors (Ericsson and Nokia, by holding important GSM patents, occupied an advantageous position for GSM network and handset development, which left Chinese firms in catch-up mode).

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In 1995, for instance, virtually all mobile phones sold in China were made by one of three global giants: Nokia, Motorola or Ericsson.

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