Wholesale cellular phone distributor

Audiovox will be U.S. distributor for Robert Bosch's Global System for Mobil Communications (GSM) phones due in 2nd quarter, Wall St. Journal said. Multiband phone operates at 900 MHz in Europe and Asia, 1,900 MHz in U.S. In Audiovox annual report, Toshiba was listed as top cellular wholesale supplier, accounting for 32% of product, up from 28% year earlier, while Talk joint venture with Shintom had 29%, annual 10K said. Overall, communications products, including wholesale cellular ($390.2 million) registered $444.4 million in sales, up from $408.6 million year ago. Total sales were $639 million, including $193.9 million from autosound. Top customer was AirTouch with 11.3% of total sales, replacing Bell Atlantic, which had 12% year ago. Audiovox also continued to shrink cellular retail operates under Audiovox, American Radio and Quintex banners. Audiovox had 26 company-owned outlets at year-end, down from 29, and cut stores licensed to sell under trade name to 6 from 11, SEC filing said.