NOKIA Oyj saw mobile phone sales soar 38.6 percent year on year to 70.7 million units in China last year, according to its quarterly report yesterday.

The Finnish telecoms giant attributed the surge to its widespread distribution channels, products and a strong position in the country's low-end market.

In 2007, China remained Nokia's single largest market in terms of sales revenue, followed by India and Germany.

Since 2006, the world's largest mobile-phone maker started entering China's huge rural market and its sales jumped 39 percent to US$6.9 billion in 2006, as it sold 51 million mobile phones.