Nortel Networks Corp., North America's biggest maker of telephone equipment, said it aims to increase sales from Asia to 25 percent of the company's total, as demand increases for wireless networks in China and India.

Nortel may meet the sales target at the end of this year, Asia Pacific President Francois Lancon said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Hong Kong today. The Toronto-based company generated 22 percent of its second-quarter sales from the Asia region, he said.

The network-equipment maker is seeking orders from China and India, the world's two fastest-growing wireless markets, to sustain growth in Asia. U.S. sales may slow as customers including Sprint Nextel Corp. are projected to cut spending.

``The fact that China is focusing on CDMA is fantastic news for us,'' Lancon said, referring to the code-division multiple access wireless-phone network being acquired by China Telecommunications Corp.

Wang Xiaochu, president of China Telecommunications, said last week the nation's biggest fixed-line phone company may spend 80 billion yuan ($11.7 billion) to expand the CDMA network it's buying from China United Telecommunications Corp..

Nortel fell the most in four years in New York trading on Aug. 1 after Chief Executive Officer Mike Zafirovski said a customer is cutting spending. Analysts including American Technology Research's Mark McKechnie identified the customer as Sprint Nextel, the third-biggest wireless operator in the U.S.

On Aug. 1, Nortel reported its second-quarter net loss widened to $138 million from $103 million. Nortel reiterated its forecast for total full-year sales to advance by ``a low single- digit'' percentage from $10.9 billion in 2007.

Nortel is increasing sales of wireless and computer- networking equipment in India, Lancon said.

Source:bloomberg