The mobile phone penetration level in the UAE has gone past the 70 per cent mark and now it is the replacement market which is going to drive the growth in the mobile phone market, said Asim Sukhera, director - Middle East of Siemens, at the launch of Siemens Mobile's latest offering - the C55.

It is a tiny mobile phone but offers users the opportunity to not only download and play 16 chord polyphonic ringtones, but also record their favourite sounds.

Sukhera said the total size of the Mideast mobile phone market is five million units and this is expected to grow by more than 40 per cent during the current year to reach close to eight million units. The regional market is dominated by the UAE to the extent of 20 to 30 per cent.

Siemens, which is waiting to participate in the Etisalat tender along with big names like Ericsson and Nokia, for the appointment of 3G network suppliers by next year, claims to command over 20 per cent of the mobile phone market in the country.

"The main reason for the big growth in the mobile phone market is that there are a lot of potential first-time users as well as those who change or upgrade their phone models frequently," said Sukhera.

He added that the life cycle of a mobile phone has reduced from two years in 1998 to less than nine months in 2002.

Siemens C55 uses the latest technology - Wireless Java - to let users access, download, store and play unlimited entertainment applications. Extended SMS messages of up to 770 characters and enhanced messaging service (EMS) allows the C55 user to embed pictures and sounds in the message sent across varying networks to other EMS-compliant handsets.

This is supported by Siemens mobile's multi-lingual messaging systems developed specifically for the Middle East (Arabic, English, Urdu and Farsi). The Siemens C55 weighs just 80 grams, offers 250 hours standby time and around six hours of talk time.