South Korean mobile phone maker Pantech is attempting to stake out 5 per cent share of China's booming handset market within three years, a company executive said.

Pantech, which secured a licence from the Chinese Government to make and sell GSM handsets in China last April, is seeing mobile phone sales grow rapidly, said Chen Su, the firm's chief representative in China.

The firm sold about 200,000 units of handsets in China in four months since its first GSM (global system for mobile communications) phones hit local shelves last September, a sign that the firm is well positioned to take a greater market share, Chen said.

"We are aiming to sell 1 million mobile phones (in China) in 2006," she said.

Pantech is the world's seventh-largest mobile phone maker and has long been the No 3 player in South Korean market.

Last year it acquired a 60 per cent stake of SKTT, the mobile phone division of SKT, the largest cellular operator in South Korea.

The acquisition boosted Pantech's share of the local mobile phone market to 28 per cent, second only to Samsung with its 48 per cent share.

Pantech has been expanding its operations aggressively, especially the sales networks, in China since its foray.

By the end of last year, its mobile phones entered 1,000 retail shops in the country and Chen said she hoped the number would hit 1,500 this year.

The increasing presence in retail shops could help Pantech, a newcomer to the local market, increase its brand recognition among Chinese consumers, Chen said.

Pantech launched eight mobile phone models in China and this year it plans to launch more than 20, covering different market segments.

To better address customer demands in the competitive Chinese market, Pantech plans to gradually move the company's research and development (R&D) centres from South Korea to China.

In South Korea, Pantech's R&D staff accounts for half of the company's employees.

"We think the heated price wars are nearing to an end in China's mobile phone market and players are shifting their focus to new functions, designs and various wireless applications in competitions," Chen said.

"Consumers' demands for personalized mobile phones are growing rapidly, which requires higher R&D capabilities of manufacturers. That is producing a big opportunity for Pantech."

According to data tracking firm GFK China, 75 million mobile phones were sold in China last year.

GFK China forecast the figure to grow by 29 per cent and hit 97 million units this year.

According to the Ministry of Information Industry (MII), the number of mobile phone subscribers exceeded 400 million by January.

About 90 per cent of the mobile phone subscription is based on GSM.

Subscribers to China Unicom Ltd's CDMA (code division multiple access) service totalled 33.04 million by January.