With significant growth in broadband wireless access in India, Aperto Networks has increased its investments in India to support its fast-growing customer base and demand for its WiMAX solutions. Besides increasing its investment in hardware and software development, sales and customer support, the WiMAX equipment maker is also expanding its channel and technology partnerships across India.

“The demand for broadband connectivity is rapidly growing in India and thanks to its performance, time to market and cost advantages, WiMAX is best-positioned to serve this huge Indian market,” said Manish Gupta, vice president of marketing and alliances for Aperto Networks. “We are excited about our role in partnering with India's world-class telecommunications companies to effectively address this growing demand and we are scaling up our capabilities and investments accordingly. In addition, Aperto has aligned with multiple channel partners to better support its customers in India. These partners range from specialists in the wireless arena to global infrastructure vendors.”

Aperto's WiMAX development center in Bangalore is expanding into a facility three times its original size. This center houses dozens of engineers and manages software as well as hardware development efforts of other Indian technology partners in Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. In concert with the expansion of engineering activities, the maker is also setting up a customer support center in Bangalore to provide level-one and level-two support to service providers across India as well other regions of the world. And, in addition, it is planning to establish an India distribution and repair facility as well.

Aperto has deployed its solutions in networks of close to dozen operators across India. BSNL, the largest telecom service provider in India, has begun rolling out Aperto's carrier-class, WiMAX Forum Certified products in several major cities and rural areas across India. BSNL has completed deployment of Aperto's multiservice broadband wireless systems in more than 65 cities across India.

“India is quickly emerging as a major market for WiMAX,” said Adlane Fellah, principal analyst, Maravedis Research and co-author of a comprehensive report on WiMAX in India. “With a population of more than one billion and a growing economy, India lacks the wireline broadband infrastructure to support its growing economy. India is a gigantic market for wireless broadband and the adoption of WiMAX will only accelerate as new spectrum is opened up to support the government's broadband policy. In this context, Aperto has proven its ability to meet the needs of major service providers in India and continues to capture a dominant share of the Indian WiMAX market”

In a recent iSuppli's Market Watch newsletter, the analyst predicted that technological developments in WiMAX over the next few years will determine the extent to which it can become a viable alternative to 3G and assist India in achieving its targeted broad-band growth.

For more information, visit www.apertonet.com.