Source: The Economic Times
5 Dec 2009, 0047 hrs IST, ET Bureau

BANGALORE: Borqs, the Beijing-headquartered mobile handset solutions firm, is looking at more than trebling the headcount at its research &development centre in Bangalore.

The company, established in 2007 with one of the key investors being Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), has around 55 people at the Bangalore centre. "We are looking at having around 250 people by the end of 2010," said, Pat Chan, CEO, Borqs. The Bangalore centre will be engaged in developing Smartphone technology platforms for the global telecom operators.

Borqs primarily works on Google's Android operating system and develops technology solutions for the telecom operators and handset manufacturers only in the space of Smartphone. Its major client is China Mobile but Borqs is also working with certain global PC manufacturers for their Smartphone forays.

Mr Chan said Borqs is close to signing agreements with two large mobile operators in Europe and the US for whom the Bangalore centre will be developing the Smartphone technologies.

According to Mr Chan, the Bangalore and Beijing will become their primary and large centers with a smaller centre in the US.

In some of the telecom markets outside of India, telecom operators bundle the mobile handsets along with their connections. For Borqs, it opens up a market opportunity as telecom operators look for independent technology companies to develop software platforms for their own Smartphone.

Mr Chan felt Smartphone as a category would increasingly gain traction in the market with their prices coming down and more functions being added.