Nokia undeterred despite 'BL-5C' controversy

New Delhi, Aug 19 (UNI) Mobile phone-maker Nokia is undeterred over the controversies surrounding its ''BL-5C'' batteries and hopes that consumers will appreciate the measures taken by the company to resolve the problem as soon as possible, a top company official said.

''Our foremost priority is consumer's interest and for that we are taking all possible measures to sort out their problems,'' India Director Marketing Devinder Kishore told UNI.

Nokia has warned consumers that 46 million batteries used in its mobile phones could overheat and has offered to replace them for free, Mr Kishore added.

''Nokia has a quality system in which customer is in focus,'' Mr Kishore said adding that the matter will be resolved in a customer-friendly way.

''We are transparent and do not want to disturb day-to-day life of customers. Hence, we issued a product advisory for the Nokia-branded BL-5C battery manufactured by Matsushita Battery Industrial Co Ltd of Japan between December 2005 and November 2006 on Tuesday.'' After the product advisory issued on Tuesday, the company has received 31.6 lakh messages through SMSs, calls and websites, Mr Kishore informed and added that the company is committed to consumer's safety.

Nokia's US shares closed down 64 cents or 2 per cent at 29.84 dollars on the New York Stock Exchange. Its European shares had closed down 1.55 per cent.

When asked if the controversy would impact Nokia's sales, Mr Kishore said that till now trends in sales have been positive and the company hopes that this advisory will have a positive impact on the company's overall business.

Nokia, the world's top cell phone maker had said about 100 incidents of such overheating had been reported globally, but none had involved serious injuries or property damage.

In a related corporate controversy, world's largest beverage maker Coca-Cola had also gone through adverse publicity around pesticides, ground water depletion and health concerns around its core brands.

UNI