June 20 (SeeNews) - Finland-based multinational communications and information technology company Nokia inaugurated on Tuesday its telecom research and development (R&D) centre in Timisoara, western Romania, following investment of 73 million euro ($81.4 million).
Since 2015, when it took over French telecommunications equipment company Alcatel-Lucent's operations in Timisoara, Nokia has been in the middle of a relocation and expansion process it aims to complete in 2018.
Following the inauguration of the R&D centre, the new Nokia campus in Timisoara will have a total area of 27,000 square meters. At present, more than 1,600 employees are working in the campus, Nokia said in a press release.
The R&D centre will develop wireless broadband technologies applied in areas such as the Internet of Things, big data and new mobile communications technologies.
"Nokia now has 1,600 employees in Romania and will open 300 new jobs by the end of the year, of which 100 in research and development teams and 200 in the service team," Nokia Romania country senior officer and general manager Raoul Ros said.
Nokia's campus in Timisoara now hosts the largest research and development centre in the Romanian telecommunications industry, as well as one of the largest multi-vendor and multi-technology networking centres, serving key customers from countries such as France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Great Britain and the USA.
Nokia acquired Alcatel-Lucent for 15.6 billion euro. Alcatel-Lucent was present in Romania since 1991 and employed 1,500 in its offices in Timisoara.
The takeover of Alcatel-Lucent's local operations marked Nokia's comeback to Romania.
In 2011, Nokia closed its operations at its factory in Jucu, Cluj county, in central-western Romania, affecting some 2,200 employees.
($=0.8963 euro)