New GSM phone manufacturer Kyocera has announced its first operator customer, securing a deal with Venezuela’s third-largest operator Digitel. The Japanese manufacturer will supply its E2500 and E4000 models, which were launched earlier this month when the vendor unveiled its entry into the GSM handset market. At the time of the device launch Kyocera claimed it was targeting the Latin American market as a number of CDMA service providers have recently switched to GSM networks. In addition, Kyocera said at the launch that it will soon address the rapidly growing W-CDMA market.

Kyocera recently acquired Sanyo’s mobile handset business for US$375-468 million, which it claims makes it the world’s sixth largest manufacturer of mobile phones. However, the top five handset vendors – Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and LG – dominate the market, with the industry’s many smaller vendors sharing only 16.4 percent of the market between them, according to a new Strategy Analytics report.