Though the investment will be primarily made for developing remote access switches for the ISP market, Nortel is also open to setting up manufacturing in India if the market demands it, claimed Khatod. Besides, the company is also setting up a professional services division in India that will be one of the largest in the Asia Pacific region.
Plans are also on to make considerable investments in establishing consultancy services in India.
Consultancy will emerge as a major area for Nortel once the company increases its presence in India. Nortel has also set its corporate eyes on India's big bandwidth market. As India's Internet user base is set to increase exponentially in the coming years, the availability of bandwidth will obviously be a key issue for the success of the IT industry in the country. There are currently an estimated 1.4 million Internet users in the country. Nortel currently outsources its networking equipment from Wipro, Infosys, Silicon Automation Systems, BPL and Tata Consultancy Services.