BEIJING - Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, China's top telecom gear maker, aims to invest more than $2 billion in India over the next five years.

The company will build a new research and development park in India's southern city of Bangalore and increase the number of engineers engaged in research to a total of 3,000, according to a statement issued by Huawei on Tuesday.

The company said it recently started the first phase of its manufacturing in Chennai in southern India and was exploring other ways to cooperate in local manufacturing, Reuters reported.

Huawei, which last year logged about $1.5 billion in contract sales in the Indian market, or about 5 percent of its total, currently employs more than 6,000 people in the country.

Of these, 90 percent are local workers, Yao Weimin, senior vice-president of Huawei, said at a discussion held on Monday by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi.

Related readings:  Huawei seeks to secure a larger market share  Huawei sets sights on top spot  India approves Chinese telco gear orders, say sources  Huawei aims to build on patents

Huawei has cooperated with local telecom operators to provide service to more than 600 million Indian customers, Yao was quoted as saying in a report posted on people.com.cn.

Following the United States and China, India is the third largest telecom infrastructure market, according to Gartner Inc, an international information technology research and advisory company.

The sale of mobile telecom infrastructure equipment in India reached $4.76 billion in 2009 and is expected to reach $4.96 billion this year.

Tina Tian, chief telecom analyst with Gartner's China office, said the potential for future business opportunities led Huawei to increase its investment in India.

"India has a large population and a big land area, which means a substantial market capacity," Tian said.

However, the penetration rate of telecom business is still small, so almost all the mainstream telecom vendors, such as Huawei and ZTE, have been keen to grab a share of the market, she added.