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BANGALORE, May 29

UTSTARCOM Inc, a global telecom solutions' provider, which recently acquired CommWorks division including its R&D facility in India, plans to invest $25 million in its R&D facility in Bangalore and double the employee strength to 150 engineers.

"Most of the large projects including high-tech development will be carried out of India," UTStarcom Country Manager and Head for South Asia, Mr Ruchir Godura, told Business Line.

UTStarcom already has an R&D facility in Gurgaon, near Delhi. In March 2002, UTStarcom had announced an investment of $25 million in its R&D facility in Gurgaon. In India, UTStarcom customers include all the basic service providers.

As part of the acquisition of CommWorks globally for around $100 million, UTStarcom in India will integrate CommWorks assets into its portfolio. This would include integration of the entire CommWorks employee base with UTStarcom and the migration of their R&D centre.

UTStarcom now owns assets including CommWorks' portfolio of carrier-focused voice and data products, customer support, and professional services. Mr Godura said there had been no overlap of work or products.

"There was very little redundancies and hence integration was not a problem," Mr Godura said.

UTStarcom's R&D Director, Mr Chandru Bolaki, said apart from huge cost savings for the company because of lower labour cost, India had an abundance of talent. Outside India, UTStarcom's only other R & D facility is in Chicago, which too has around 150 engineers. He said while $25 million would be invested over a period of five years, the staff strength would be doubled during the current year itself.

Mr Bolaki said the Bangalore development centre would focus on wireless data solutions, soft switches and intelligent services. He said 50 per cent of the development work relating to the CommWorks product portfolio would now be handled out of India. The centre also provides support for the company's global customers including 17 of the world's top 20 telecom service providers.

UTStarcom commenced operation in India two years ago. It aims to become a complete solution provider to basic service operators in India through the introduction of three of its major product lines — its AN2000, broadband multi-service access platform, its mSwitch, its softswitch solution and PAS, its wireless access system.

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