Ruckus Wireless, the wi-fi equipment provider in India is planning to increase its headcount in India.

The company with an eye on expansion in the country is aiming to grow its headcount by 50 per cent. Curently the company has a development centre in Bengaluru.

The company sees an increasing demand for wi-fi hotspots in sectors such as hotels, hospitals, telecom and the education sector for Wi-Fi hotspots. And it expects to grow in excess of 30 per cent this year.

Currently the Wi-Fi products of Ruckus Wirelesas are being deployed by the Oberoi and Leela chain of hotels, hospitals such as SevenHills and telecom players such as Aircel and Tikona.

Besides Ruckus Wireless, other companies selling Wi-Fi equipment in the country include Cisco, Motorola among others.

At present the country has Wi-Fi hotspots in excess of one lakh across Tier I and Tier II cities. According to a study by Wi-Fi Alliance and Tonse Telecom, the wireless equipment market is expected to reach Rs 744 million by FY 2012.

With its patented technologies ? Ruckus Wireless is eyeing a major share of fast-growing Wi-Fi equipment market.  In fact, the company recently launched two new Wi-Fi products that can connect up to 500 people through a single Wi-Fi device.

With large number of mobile users and increasing demand for internet connectivity Ruckus Wireless sees interesting business opportunities in the country.

According to (GSMA) Currently, India has 951.3 million mobile subscribers and it is expected that the country will add 367 million mobile broadband connections in the next four years, thereby, making India the world’s second largest mobile broadband market by 2016.