Nokia, the world's top cell phone maker, plans to tap the surging market for connecting laptops to wireless networks and take on market leader Huawei Technologies, a senior executive said.

Nokia will start to ship its first modem stick in early 2009, aiming to benefit from its know-how and experience in developing 3G technologies, Tapio Markki, vice president for hardware platform components at Nokia, told Reuters.

"Leveraging these capabilities, we believe we are well-positioned to become one of the winning providers for HSPA modem solutions. The market for HSPA modems is expected to grow very rapidly during the coming years," Markki said. HSPA, which stands for High Speed Packet Access, is a collection of mobile telephony protocols for super-fast 3G.

Nokia declined to comment on the price of the device--which uses HSPA--saying it would be sold mostly through operators and bundled with services.

Nokia tried to enter into the business of connecting laptops to wireless networks in late 2006 when it said it had developed an embedded 3G module for notebook computers, which Intel agreed to sell as part of its next-generation Centrino Duo mobile technology platform.

But in early 2007, Nokia and Intel made a joint decision to cease cooperation on the connectivity module.

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