China Telecom Busy Exploring, Cultivating Americas Market
China Telecom Americas will further expand in Central America and South America, forging strategic partnerships with local telecom operators and providing international service to users.
"We're now paying great attention to developing in new regions, opening new operations and trying new businesses models," Donald Tan, the president of CT Americas, told China Daily. "Our overseas expansion will try to reach out to those non-China markets, such as the telecommunication solutions between North America and South America, based not on our resources in China but our overseas infrastructure," Tan said.
In booming tourism and business exchanges between China and the US in recent years, CT Americas saw huge potential for its mobile and data services. It began developing its US retail presence this year.
CT Americas began rolling out its branded mobile service in Chicago in January; plans are for similar rollouts in Los Angeles and New York, the major destinations for Chinese visitors and home to the greatest number of Chinese- Americans. Subscriber phones using the service will carry a China Telecom logo and one SIM card with two numbers - one China-based and one US-based mobile, with the subscriber reachable on both.
The new service is aimed at frequent business travelers, long-term visitors and students. The international calling rate will be lower than that offered by domestic US telecoms but slightly higher than a calling card, Tan said.
The company has grown rapidly on US soil. Between 2004 and 2010, its average annual growth rate was 40 percent. It's now the largest Chinese investor in Virginia with more than $50 million committed. To improve its local telecommunications infrastructure, the total investment will reach about $100 million in the near future, Tan said.
Source: China Daily