Nokia is expected to "bounce back" in the fourth quarter

Siemens accounted for an impressive 17% of total European sales, up from 11.2% in Q2, also taking share from Motorola.

Five vendors accounted for 81% of sales in west Europe with Nokia losing market share for the first time in two years.

"The UK, one of Nokia's biggest markets, was a notable weak spot for the Finnish giant," said the SA report.

Christmas sales

As Nokia lost share, Siemens and Sagem were the winners in the low-end of the market and Samsung Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications at the mid and top end.

In October Siemens said it had seen a 44% increase in mobile phone handset sales in the previous three months, giving a much-needed boost to its global market share.

It now says it expects 470 million mobile handsets to be sold worldwide this year.

Although Nokia has lost 9% annual share this year, Strategy Analytics expects the company to "bounce back" in the fourth quarter.

It said the third quarter was traditionally a quiet period for Nokia in Europe as they concentrated on the Christmas holiday season.

Overall, Western European handset sales grew at a healthy 23% rate year-over-year in the third quarter of 2003, and up 7% on the previous quarter.

Strategy Analytics said healthy demand for colour and camera phones was mixed, with continuing strong demand for low-end handsets.