German IT body revises 09 sales outlook to decline

* Sees recovery in German IT market 2010

* Cuts 2009 outlook to decline from increase

* Says outsourcing services benefitting from crisis

(Adds comment, detail)

BERLIN, July 2 (Reuters) - German technology and telecoms association Bitkom expects to see a recovery in the country's IT sector in 2010 but revised its outlook for this year to a decline in sales instead of growth.

Bitkom, which had said in March it would review its 2009 outlook after the second quarter, said on Thursday it expects the industry to return to growth with a 0.3 percent increase in sales of 141.4 billion euros ($199.5 billion) in 2010. [ID:nWEA9953]

But this year, sales would decline 2.5 percent to 141 billion euros, Bitkom said.

The association had said in December it expected sales in the IT sector to grow 1.5 percent in 2009.

"The economic crisis has not left the German high-tech industry IT sector untouched but it has not been hit as hard as other sectors," said Bitkom head August-Wilhelm Scheer.

While the overall IT market is declining, outsourcing services are benefitting as companies attempt to improve efficiency and cut costs, Scheer said, adding outsourcing services are expected to increase 6 percent to 14 billion euros.

The telecommunication segment is seen declining 2 percent this year to sales of 64.5 billion euros and by 0.7 percent next year as the traditional fixed-line segment continues to shrink but data revenue increases.

Sales in the digital entertainment segment are expected to drop 6.5 percent to 11.9 billion euros on a sharp decline in prices.

"The average price for LCD TVs has fallen around 20 percent in the first quarter compared with the previous year", Bitkom said.

Scheer criticised the government and the European Union for hampering growth by interfering too often and called for more incentives to invest in research and development. ($1=.7087 euros) (Reporting by Nicola Leske; editing by Mike Nesbit)