Nokia has seen a sharp rebound in mobile phone sales in Europe in recent weeks, in a strong sign that handset price cuts and the introduction of new models have reversed earlier falls.

In April, the world's leading maker of mobile phones cut the prices of some of its handsets by almost 25 per cent following the loss of global market share to rivals such as Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Siemens.

Nokia had suffered because rivals including Siemens were selling cheaper entry-level handsets and because it lacked a wide enough range of colour screen camera phones in the highly-competitive mid-tier price bracket.

However, mobile phone retailers report that Nokia's market share in Europe has been increasing noticeably in recent weeks as it has recaptured leading positions for sales with some of its handset models.

A senior executive at Carphone Warehouse, Europe's largest mobile phone retailer, with more than 1,100 outlets, said Nokia had now displaced Siemens for entry-level handsets with strong demand for its Nokia 1100 model.

Analysts said this indicated price cuts were having an impact on sales as Nokia introduced the most aggressive price cuts across its range to its low-end phones.

But Nokia has also regained market share at the top end, according to retailers, with its colour screen 6230 model becoming a top seller and with its first mainstream "clamshell" phone, the 7200, also proving highly popular.

Carphone Warehouse said demand for Nokia's clamshell phone was outstripping supply, boding well for Nokia's next range of handsets, six of which have the popular "clamshell" design.