U.K. telecommunications group Cable & Wireless Worldwide PLC (CW.LN) Tuesday expanded its footprint in India with a second network operating center in Chennai to support its growing customer base.

The new center, which is part of the company's expansion plans in India, will provide round-the-clock network surveillance, performance monitoring and support, as well as fault resolution for voice and data networks, C&W Worldwide told Dow Jones Newswires. It is spread over a 15,000 square feet area and will have around 300 employees.

The first center, which opened in 1995, is located in Bangalore and supports companies including Citibank, Ryanair Holdings PLC (RYA.DB), Standard Chartered Bank PLC (SCZ.ZM) and HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC).

Together the two centers will manage and support communication networks of more than 6,500 enterprise and carrier customers across Asia, Europe and the Americas.

The new center represents a 55% increase in C&W Worldwide's India operations' capacity to support the company's customer base.

India is the second most important market after the U.K. for the company. "We are making good progress in expanding our footprint in the country and beyond, and have an excellent blue chip client base, including 10 out of the top 15 outsourcing firms and three leading Indian banks," Nick Lambert, managing director of global markets at C&W Worldwide said,

C&W Worldwide has already announced a $30 million investment in the Indian Multi-service Platform, which was launched in 2009, and another $50 million in the Europe India Gateway.

EIG is a new undersea cable system providing greater network capacity between Europe and India. Slated for launch early next year, the 15,000 kilometre long EIG is the first high bandwidth cable system using dense wavelength division multiplexing technology connecting the U.K. with India via the Mediterranean Sea.

C&W Worldwide views EIG as a "strategic investment as India gears up for the launch of 3G services in the coming months."

The company also has three centers in the U.K.

-By Lilly Vitorovich, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-0-207 842 9290; lilly.vitorovich@dowjones.com