Nokia says road to India villages costly for foes

By Tarmo Virki

SINGAPORE, June 19 (Reuters) - Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) expects its broad sales network, brand cachet and commanding market share to keep it ahead in India despite an aggressive push by rivals into the world's fastest-growing mobile phone market.

India is already the company's third largest market by volume, and Nokia, the world's biggest cellphone maker, enjoys market share there of about 50 percent, research firms have said,

-- better than its global average of about 36 percent. -- better than its global average of about 36 percent.

With more than 6 million new customers in India each month, many attracted by call rates as low as 1 U.S. cent a minute, rivals such as Samsung Electronics (005930.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Sony Ericsson (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (ERICb.ST: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) have rolled out low-cost models and expanded their footprints by signing up new retailers.

But Urpo Karjalainen, head of Nokia's Asia-Pacific business, told Reuters that barriers to entry for rivals are high in the sprawling country.

"In India there are today about 93,000 retail outlets. It's a huge amount, and our phones are being sold in every single one," Karjalainen said on the sidelines of an industry event, adding that rivals don't sell phones in even half those outlets.

Karjalainen said building a presence in India on a similar scale would demand significant spending by competitors.