US based Airwide Solutions said its plans to setup a sales office and R&D centre in Gurgaon to service the Indian and Asia Pacific markets, according to a media statement.

“Value-added services in the Indian mobile market will boom with the introduction of 3G roll outs in 200708. India is the second largest market in the world and we intend to leverage India’s R&D strength for product development,” said Amit Nagpal, general manager India operations, Airwide Solutions.

“We developed the world’s first SMS and sent the first message with Vodafone in 1992, which is till today the most successful non-voice service in wireless history and deployed the first application-to-person MMS in 2003, creating a new revenue stream for operators and an exciting new entertainment and information channel for consumers,” said Rajive Chandra, regional director, Asean.

While the investment amount was not disclosed, the company’s new R&D centre (and its third) will staff between 100-150 people and is expected to com mence operations in March this year. Additionally, the company will also look at setting up sales offices in four other locations in India in another two to three years time.