NDS has announced plans to triple its investment towards the Chinese market, adding to both its local headcount and infrastructure during 2010, as part of an increased development of services for customers both on China and the rest of the world.

Earlier this year NDS announced that it had increased its headcount in China by 73% over the last 12 months. The company has now said that numbers will increase further during 2010, both through local hires and the relocation of parts of its R&D team from India and Israel.

ÒWe believe that Chinese digital-TV technology will have a major impact on the global pay-TV market, as other countries start to seek out Chinese knowledge, experience and products. We already have significant resources in China, and accelerating our investment now and in the future allows us to rapidly increase our support for the dynamic and growing Chinese digital-TV market,Ó said Sue Taylor, chairman, NDS China, Senior Vice President and General Manager Asia Pacific.

ÒNDS supports the government's initiatives by providing tailor-made solutions for NGB and Three Network Convergence, while forging stronger links with local vendors to jointly develop solutions for the Chinese market,Ó continued Taylor.

A number of partnerships have been established with Chinese companies working in the consumer electronics space, semiconductors, systems integration, and digital-TV applications markets. NDS has already partnered with Changhong, a leading set-top box (STB) manufacturer, to develop a range of interactive applications for the Chinese market, targeted at convergence and the Next Generation Broadband (NGB) initiative. The applications will be marketed in other regions as part of a drive to increase export opportunities for Chinese CE and STB manufacturers.

Earlier this month Shenzhen-based SMiT became the first supplier of a CI Plus module to carry NDS conditional access, after being adopted by Kabel Deutschland.

NDS has its own R&D centre in Shenzhen, the year-old facility will see an increase in staff numbers, as will its locations in Beijing and Shanghai.

According to Media Partners Asia, China is the largest market worldwide with over 66 million digital pay-TV subscribers. By 2014 this is predicted to reach 198 million subscribers. In parallel, cable TV revenues will increase from $9 billion in 2009 to $17 billion in 2014.