Chinese telecom equipment supplier Huawei recently announced that it will open a new R&D center in Cergy-Pontoise, near Paris, France, the EE Times Europe reported on September 16. This new facility, to be opened at the end of September, will focus on the R&D and development of mobile phones and conduct basic research on the establishment of mobile network standards and the evaluation of mobile services. This center will initially recruit around 20 employees at the time of its inauguration and gradually increase to 50 employees by year-end 2009, according to the same source.

Aside from this R&D center, Huawei has another R&D center located in Lannion, in the French region of Brittany, which was set up in 2007 to focus on streamlining fixed broadband systems. Meanwhile, Huawei set up its first plant in France in 2003, supplying telecom equipment to France Telecom, Free, Neuf Cegetel, SFR, and Completel.