Finnish technology behemoth, Nokia hosted annual Innovation Day 2017 event on the company's premises in Manyata Embassy Park, Bengaluru on November 29.
During the event, Nokia announced the expansion of its R&D facility, one of the company's four units in the world. It was inaugurated by Priyank Kharge, minister of state, IT, BT and Tourism, Karnataka. Currently, it employs more than 6,000 engineers and the number is expected to swell in 2018.
The new facility is aimed at carrying out research in areas including the cloud, 'big data' analytics, development of Voice over LTE (VoLTE) and applications, as well as next-generation core and 5G telecommunication technology.
"The expansion of our presence in India is a testimony to our deep commitment to harness the enormous potential of local talent for research and development. The center will provide a huge opportunity for bright engineers to work on upcoming technologies which will change the way we live and work," Rupa Santosh, head of the technology center, said in a statement.
Nokia is known as one of the pioneer in mobile industry that has tied up with leading national telecom players Airtel and BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd) to test 5G communications.
If Indian government initiates the process of 5G spectrum auction as soon as possible, preferably before the end of 2018, network carrier companies will be able set up necessary infrastructure to commercially launch the high speed telecom service. If things fall in place, citizens can expect to enjoy 5G service with up to 5.7gbps download speed on their smartphones before the end of 2020 if not early.
Nokia established a dedicated 5G/IoT (Internet of Things) lab in 2016, to work on applications for smart cities and public safety, as well as a number of IoT use cases including real-time city surveillance, smart parking. This will greatly boosts the central government's ambitious smart cities project.
