US-based Qualcomm Inc, a pioneer in CDMA-based technology, said on Wednesday it will invest more in the India and increase hiring in its two R&D centres.
"We are trying to hire for our R&D centres. We have 200 people right now. These centres also need capital investment," Qualcomm Inc CEO Irwin Jacob told newspersons without giving any details about the increase in number of people or investment.
The company has an R&D centre in Hyderabad, a software development centre in Bangalore and a lab in Mumbai.
Jacob said the company was trying to bring semi-conductor chips to India, which would significantly reduce the cost of entry-level CDMA phone in the country.
The first of these phones will be in India in a few months' time; the initial step would be to bring down the cost of the phone to below $50 at the operator level.
He said the 'EVDO' deployment in India for voice and data applications on CDMA phones was under trial and the operators needed additional spectrum for that.
CDMA operators should be given more spectrum as they have currently half of the spectrum that their GSM counterparts enjoy; they should be given the spectrum in 1900 mhz band as equipment are available in that band, he said. "It is very important for policy makers to be technology-neutral."
Using this band pairing to meet the spectrum needs of CDMA operators in India would enable deployment of cost-effective networks, thus keeping the cost of service affordable for consumers, he said.
{{/usCountry}}Using this band pairing to meet the spectrum needs of CDMA operators in India would enable deployment of cost-effective networks, thus keeping the cost of service affordable for consumers, he said.
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