The company has identified US, among other markets, as the key area for setting up telecom software development centre. However, no decision has been taken yet on the location, an official in BPL Telecom (IT business division).

The telecom equipment-producing company has set aside Rs 40 crore for its entire operations in India and abroad. The investments also include the building of a software campus and competence centre in the country.

"It is expected that the new centre will develop telecom software for its overseas customers directly apart from bringing new projects and clientele to the domestic market. The setting up of such a centre abroad will help the company to have more teeth by acquiring advanced technologies," said the official. Currently the company is expanding its domestic base by recruitingmore software professionals for its Bangalore office.

Having about 35 software professionals in the US office, BPL Systems Ltd plans to increase the number to 100 and expand the number of branches for undertaking various projects.

The Rs 3,000-crore BPL group will also be making huge investments in its telecom business, a new area for the Nambiars. It has a substantial market share in colour TV, audio and video, white goods like refrigerators and washing machines, alkaline and dry batteries, and critical components sector. BPL will develop software for telecom billing and digital signal processing. At present it is developing a software for Web phone for a foreign firm, apart from working with Toshiba and Harris of the US on joint projects.

The offshore projects include developing of DSP Algorithms for answering machines of the US-based Analog Devices and Windows-based fax-cum-data modem device drivers and software for Sanyo Electric Company, Japan.

The company offers software products on hotelmanagement package, computer telephonic interface, interactive voice response, hot billing, rental billing and signature verification.

Major customers of BPL Telecom, a part of the BPL Telecom Business Group headed by the CMD Rajeev Chandrasekhar, are located in the US, Europe, and Africa. Out of this, a large chunk of businesses is from the US operations. The number of employees of the company stands at 950, of which 150 accounts for software professionals.

It is expected that the company's revenue from software business was to the tune of Rs 20 crore during the last fiscal. It had reported a revenue of Rs 3.47 crore from domestic software businesses and software exports of Rs 3.17 crore for 1996-97.