What happened Nokia?

Is the telecom boom over?

It is a legitimate question after Nokia said its first-quarter sales and earnings will be below expectations.

While it would be easy to say the telecom sector's rebound was short-lived, a more accurate explanation is that Nokia's rivals are making life more difficult.

In Canada, the hot handhelds in the wireless market come from LG, Samsung, AudioVox and Kyocera.

Is it a coincidence they're Asian-based manufacturers?

No.

Don't be surprised if telecom equipment makers such as Cisco, Nortel and Lucent start losing more sales to overseas rivals such as Huawei.

With all the "off-shoring" happening and engineers and software developers either staying home or being lured back, it likely that Asia will soon emerge as a new telecom force.