An official at SK Telecom, Korea's largest telecommunications company, said Monday that it is negotiating with Nokia on supplying handsets, and Nokia phones could be on sale in SK Telecom shops by as early as the end of the year.

Nokia's return is likely to cause great upheaval in the domestic mobile phone market, which has been dominated by four big companies: Samsung, LG, Pantech, and Motorola.

Nokia, based in Finland, is the number one mobile phone seller in the world, with sales of 437.1 million units last year.

Because Nokia produces a wide range of phones, priced from US$30 up to several hundred thousand dollars, it could become an extremely powerful force in Korea.

Nokia first entered the Korean market in 2001, but withdrew in January 2003 after a difficult struggle.

(englishnews@chosun.com )