In this paper we study the access network design problem in Universal Mobile Telecommunication Systems (UMTS) networks. Given the location of radio base stations (node-Bs), their traffic demands, and the candidate facility centers for locating radio network controllers (RNCs), the problem is to determine the configuration of access network, including the number and location of facility centers, the number of RNCs in each facility center, and the links between RNCs and node-Bs, with the objective being to design such a network at the minimum cost. We provide a mathematical formulation of the problem with constraints on RNC and node-B capacities, along with a lower bounding method. We develop a heuristic algorithm with two different initial solution methods designed to strengthen the solution quality. The computational efficacy of their procedures is then demonstrated on a number of test problems.