TI sees 4-5 percent future phone market growth

By Georgina Prodhan

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Sales of mobile phones, which are expected to decline this year for the first time since 2001, will likely settle down to annual growth of about 4-5 percent, the head of Texas Instruments'' wireless chip business said on Wednesday.

Greg Delagi told Reuters the company was investing in technology that would drive people to replace their cell phones or own multiple phones, now that 4 billion phones have been sold. The world''s population is roughly 6.7 billion.

"I believe wireless is in a mode where growth is in single digits as we move forward," Delagi said.

"Think 4 or 5 percent per year growth for the wireless market in unit terms as we move forward, and that''s just because of the numbers."

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan)