"This year we are calling the industry at about 5 percent in dollar terms, but if you were to take an average over the next 4-5 years I think its going to be 5-8 percent," Nemcek said.
This is a similar forecast to that of Sweden's Ericsson, the world's biggest producer of mobile networks, which expects long-term market growth at 2-3 times global gross domestic product growth.
For this year, Ericsson also forecasts mobile networks market growth at up to 5 percent in dollar terms, while Finnish rival Nokia sees "slight" growth in euro terms.
Nemcek said his networks division has gained market share every year over the last three years and improved margins at the same time, reaching 20 percent in the last quarter of 2004 on full-year sales growth of 24 percent.
Ericsson also said it had won market share, as did Nokia.
But both Ericsson and France's Alcatel saw their gross margin decline as a result of the fierce fight for new business.
Asked if Motorola's network business would manage to uphold its margins, Nemcek said:
"That's my target. I am running a good business and I am not going to lose ground. The word stable (about margins) is fine - I certainly plan to maintain strong margins."
Nemcek expected growth this year to be driven by Asia, with 80 percent of new mobile subscribers to come from countries like China, India, Indonesia or Malaysia. Major industry players expect the number of mobile subscribers to reach 2 billion people next year from 1.7 billion in 2004.
Subscriber numbers in North America would continue to grow in 2005 at 2004 levels, Nemcek said, although spending on equipment from operators may slow down.
"I think we saw a technology bubble in North America over the last 2 years. You will see North America moderating because a major technology transition has occurred," he said, referring to upgrades to more efficient and faster networks.
Echoing views aired by Ericsson and Nokia, Nemcek said that despite the large number of competing equipment makers, the industry was not likely to see any mergers.
The opportunity for them had passed when the industry was at its lows a few years ago, he said, but then none of the companies had the financial strength to buy out the other. Now, after deep cost cutting at most of the firms, all were back to profits and specialisation had limited the need for mergers.
"The growth is still there ... and every one of the competitors has secured their part of the market place, which is a strength or a safe-haven. So no one is necessarily facing the conditions that they have to consolidate," Nemcek said.
Partnerships between companies have become more common but Nemcek would not comment on whether Motorola would have a partner for the TD-SCDMA Chinese 3G standard which most equipment makers expect to be among the licensed 3G technologies when Beijing issues 3G licences later this year.
"I have not made a public announcement," he said, adding it remained to be seen if that new market segment would offer an opportunity for good sales and margins.
On Monday Alcatel said it teamed up with ZTE, China's No 1 listed telecoms equipment maker. Other western firms like Nortel and Marconi also have Chinese partners.
Nemcek was upbeat about the prospects for the fixed wireless broadband standard WiMax, which allows laptop users to get on line without cables in Internet cafes, saying Motorola had created a special division for it.
"There is no doubt in my mind - I was strong on WiMax last year I am doubly strong on WiMax this year," he said. "We are determined to drive that technology forward."