Nokia revamps China operations

Nokia is cutting staff in China after halving its regional sales and distribution offices in the country from four to two, as it reorganizes its operations in the world's largest smartphone market.

According to Gao Xiang, its director of public relations in China, its West region, which previously headquartered in Chengdu, is going to be supervised by South region, and the North region will take charge of the Shanghai-based East region.

Nokia staff in the former West and East regions were responsible for sales and public relations, said Gao.

Analysts say Nokia has a well-developed sales network, which enables it to reach users not only in big Chinese cities but also in third- and fourth-tier cities, and this is what it can take advantage of in the future, apart from its sound branding.

"We will focus on our core strategy - strengthening the capability of introducing smartphones based on Windows Phone operating system," said Gao.

Once the world's mobile phone leader, Nokia has been overshadowed by Apple Inc and other mobile phone makers running Google Inc's Android operating system, leading to a sharp drop in sales and five straight quarterly losses.